Thalictrum Sparsiflorum, Fewflower Meadow-Rue

Thalictrum sparsiflorum is found in scattered mountainous areas of the West, including the Sierra Nevada in California, the Uinta Mountains of Utah, and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming; it is rather less common than thalictrum fendleri, which inhabits the same areas.

Plants are relatively tall, with slender, hairless stems bearing well-separated leaves, from the base to the inflorescence. The long-stalked leaves have a fine covering of glandular hairs (especially underneath), and are divided into small segments, shallowly toothed or lobed at the tip.

Flowers are arranged in small numbers in an open panicle, and are subtended by leaf-like bracts. Flowers are formed of five whitish sepals, recurved when mature, between ten and 20 stamens, with white filaments and short, flat, yellow anthers, and a central cluster of short, greenish pistils.