We love the Eastern US native, false rue anemone, flowering now in the woodland garden at JLBG. This is one of the great winter flowering perennials, which we feel should be a part of every shade garden. The plant below has been thriving for decades under a grove of giant black walnut trees. Depending on where within its native range from Minnesota south to Florida, the genetics originated, it starts flowering from late January to early March.
Isopyrum biternatum is the midst of a bitter custody battle with the genus Enemion, but there hasn’t been any new DNA work since the early days of the field, when the sole use of chloroplast DNA gave us a number of incorrect name changes that were later retracted. Until we see some nuclear DNA results, we’re leaving it in the genus isopyrum.
Lovely! In your online catalog description, you say that false rue anemone is often found growing natively in alkaline soil. Will it do well in my very acidic northern Wake County, NC clay-based woodland soil?
Yes, it also thrives in acidic woodland conditions.
I have something very similar that I bought as
thalictrum thalictroides. Rue anemone.
Are they 2 different plants?
They are cousins, but different genera. Thalictrum thalictroides, formerly Anemonella thalictroides, starts flowering in mid to late April, compared to Isopyrum thalictroides, which begins flowering in January.
Thanks for the above answers to questions on care for this plant, but ALSO thanks for explaining why so many scientific name changes over the past several years! I HOPE that all settles down, as it has been very frustrating and discouragingly hard to keep up with.