Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Enemion biternatum Raf.

Family: Ranunculaceae

false rue anemone

[Isopyrum biternatum (Raf.) Torr. & A.Gray, more...]

Christopher Noll

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Enemion: given by Dioscoride as another name for Anemone
Plants: erect, perennial, 4"-16" tall forb with slender stems; roots many small tuber-like masses
Leaves: basal leaves long-stalked, 2-3 times 3-parted; stem leaves alternate, smaller, with shorter stalks, and less divided; leaflets rounded and 3-lobed leaf drawing

Flowers: white, 5-parted, 1/2" wide, petal-like sepals; 1 to a few stalks of a solitary flower; blooms April-May
Habitat: moderate moisture; woods, forests
Hazardous: Careful, this plant is hazardous!
Conservation Status: Native

Rich forests of maple-basswood-oak, maple-beech, maple-hemlock, maple-beech-conifers; rich bottomland woods along rivers with maple-hawthorn, basswood-ash-butternut, black ash, basswood-ash-hickory. Often associated with limey soils and usually abundant in forests on the Niagara Escarpment or other places with exposed limestone.

Sometimes mistaken for Thalictrum thalictroides but differing in its follicle fruits and deeply-lobed leaves with apiculate apices. Scattered throughout Wisconsin but common in portions of the Driftless Area, the eastern half of the state, and parts of the north-central counties, strangely absent from Door Co.