Purple Meadow Rue - Thalictrum dasycarpum

Thalictrum dasycarpum, also known as Purple Meadow Rue or Tall Meadow Rue, is a perennial wildflower native to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. We find it most often in dappled shade near streams or in moist woodlands, but it can tolerate full sun as long as the soil has consistent moisture. It prefers loam or sandy loam, but also does well in somewhat rocky or more sandy soils, and other favored habitats include forest edges, shores, fens, and ditches.
 
Height can range from 3 to 7 feet, but we have found 3 to 5 feet to be typical in most UP habitats. This plant produces masses of lacy yellow-white flowers blooming in June or July, Purple Meadow Rue is dioecious, meaning individual plants produce either all male or all female flowers, but both are showy. Plant several if you want fertile seeds, especially since this plant is wind-pollinated.
 
Although it is visited by some native bees for pollen, it is as a moth host plant that its value really shines (and as a decorative flower, of course). According to Illinoiswildflowers.com, Purple Meadow Rue is used by an assortment of interesting specialist moths, including Calyptera canadensis (Canadian Owlet), Eosphoropteryx thyatyroides (Pink-Patched Looper Moth), Pseudeva purpurigera (Straight-Lined Looper Moth), and Papaipema unimoda (Meadow Rue Borer Moth). Being a moth host plant means that this plant also supports birds by providing abundant caterpillars for nestlings. Deer resistant.