Erect, leafy stems 2–3 feet tall can form colonies in shady, moist soils in mountain forests and canyons. Note the compound leaves on long stems (petioles) are divided 3–4 times into sets with 3 rounded, lobed leaflets. Male and female plants separate; the male flowers have a tassel-like cluster of dangling red filaments with yellow anthers; the female flowers have short, white stigmas.

FLOWER: June–August. Four sepals, no petals; male and female flowers on separate plants. Open-branching clusters have numerous small flowers; male flowers have numerous dangling stamens with reddish filaments and long, yellow anthers; female flowers are more erect with a cluster of white to purplish stigmas.

LEAVES: Alternate, compound. The main leaf stem has 3–4 side stems, which also divide into 3–4 stems, each with 3 leaflets; each rounded to triangular leaflet has 3 lobes near the tip.

HABITAT: Moist soils of forest floors, canyons, riparian areas, drainages; ponderosa-Douglas fir, aspen, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,300–10,045 feet.

RANGE: Rocky Mountains and all states west.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Purple Meadowrue, T. dasycarpum, has leathery leaflets, and stamens with white filaments. Columbine species, Aquilegia, have similar leaves but large, showy flowers.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide in mountains of NM (absent on eastern plains) in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union.