Purple meadow-rue

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Purple meadow-rue leaflets

Purple meadow-rue inflorescence

Purple meadow-rue flowers

Purple meadow-rue habit

Purple meadow-rue inflorescence

Purple meadow-rue fruit

Purple meadow-rue

Purple meadow-rue leaflets

Purple meadow-rue

Purple meadow-rue leaves

Purple meadow-rue leaflets

Purple meadow-rue leaves

Purple meadow-rue leaves

Morphology

Stem

Erect, branched above, purplish, glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Leaves

Mostly cauline, alternate; petiole present or absent; blade 3-4-ternately compound; leaflets ovate to cuneate or obovate, .6 to 2.2 inches long, .3 to 2 inches wide; margins entire or 2-5-lobed apically; surfaces glabrous or pubescent on the lower surface.

Inflorescence

Panicles, 10-200-flowered; involucral bracts absent.

Flower

Usually unisexual, staminate and pistillate on separate plants, rarely bisexual, radially symmetric; sepals 4(-6), white to purplish white, lanceolate, .08 to .16 inch; petals 0; stamens 7-30; pistils 1-16.

Fruit

Achene, dark, body ovoid, .12 to .2 inch, ribbed; beak straight, .12 to .16 inch; seed 1.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist to dry maple-basswood and oak-hickory forests and woodlands, moist tallgrass prairies, swales, ditches

Distribution

Principally east 3/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The ripening fruits have a delicate odor, which Native Americans employed by rubbing them into their clothing. They took an infusion of root to reduce fevers; smoked the dried seeds to bring luck when hunting; and mixed the plant with white clay and applied this compound to the muzzles of horses in order to increase their stamina. Young Native American boys fashioned toy flutes from the hollow stems. A lover seeking to gain the affection of a maiden crushed the inflorescence with spittle in the palm of his hand; if the desired one would accept that hand when proffered for handshaking the suitor's success was thought to be assured.

Additional Notes