Green in Winter: False Rue Anemone

Frequent in mesic woods, Isopyrum biternatum is one of the most abundant green plants in winter. In a very cold winter the leaves are mostly purple. It's a member of the Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family) and its white flowers are a big part of the floral display in springtime woodlands. The flowers have no petals - just white petaloid sepals (aka "tepals")! Photographed at Bendix Woods County Park in St. Joe County, Indiana, on January 7, 2011.

This is how the plant looked in April, 2011 at Turkey Run State Park in west-central Indiana.

"The more thou learnest to know and enjoy, the more full and complete will be for thee the delight of living." Frances Theodora Parsons, 1899.

Mind Trick

I sometimes feel like someone pulled a Jedi mind trick on me when I first started learning wildflowers. They told me that Rue Anemone and False Rue Anemone are confusing. (If only they had confidently told me that I would easily keep them straight in my head...) Since then, they have been confused in my mind, despite the easy differences. However different the plants are, keeping the names separate is another matter. This post is more for me, than for the expert botanists.

Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone) used to be called Anemonella thalictroides.
Enemion biternatum (False Rue Anemone) used to be called Isopyrum biternatum

Rue Anemone has more petaloid sepals, grows in more upland habitats, and has opposite leaves.


False Rue Anemone has four to five petaloid sepals, grows in low woods and moist soils, and has alternate leaves.