The leaf is 3 or 4 times divided, terminating in groups of 3 leaflets on short slender stems; the leaflets are small, rounding, slightly heart-shaped at the base, and their margins are notched in rounded scallops; the texture is exceptionally fine and thin, the surface smooth; the color, a fine cool green. The flower is small and composed of 3 or 4 or 5 little, petal-like, pale green calyx-parts. Different plants bear the pistils and stamens; the flowers of the former are inconspicuous and sparse in comparison with those of the stamen-bearing plant: from these the many stamens, pale green faintly touched with tawny at the tips, droop on slender threads like little tassels. The flowers grow in loose clusters, on branching stems that spring from the leaf-joints. The Early Meadow Rue is unobtrusive in color and form, but most graceful in gesture, and fine in the texture and finish of all its parts; the leafage has a fern-like delicacy, and the flower tassels of the stamen-bearing plant are airily poised. [Illustration: EARLY MEADOW RUE: Thalictrum dioicum.] *Tall Meadow Rue.* _Thalictrum polygamum._ Found in June in wet meadows, both in the shade of thickets and in unsheltered fields. The stalk, usually 3 or 4 feet high, attains, it is said, to even 9 feet sometimes; it is branching, and somewhat zigzag in growth; round, slightly ribbed, and smooth; green or purple, especially near the joints. The leaf is highly compound, being composed of 3 long-stemmed divisions which are parted into 3 or 5 short-stemmed groups of 3 leaflets each; these leaflets are rounding in shape, entire,--save for the 1 to 3 round scallops at the tips,--of a fine and thin texture, and smooth surface; a network of delicate veins shows underneath; the color is a beautiful, cool, dark green, lighter underneath. The arrangement is alternate. The flower is without petals; the numerous thread-like, white stamens, with their green tips, spread into feathery tufts, and are set on tiny stems in loose terminal clusters, and also in lesser groups on stems from the angles of the upper leaves. An elegant plant, beautiful at all seasons with its distinguished-bearing, charming flower clusters, and quaint lavender-hued seed-heads; and especially attractive at the turn of the leaf, when its foliage takes on a delicate crimson tint toned by a grayish bloom. [Illustration: TALL MEADOW RUE: T. polygamum.] *Rue Anemone.* _Anemonella thalictroides._ Found in woods and on shady banks, in May. The slender, erect stalk, 5 or 6 inches in height, is fine and smooth; in color, a light reddish-tinged green.