Stately plant with foliage like Columbine and airy plumes of white flowers on fluted, rod-thick stems. Tiny, threadlike stamens, less than ¼" long, dangle like tassels from the sepals on male flowers. Female flower has purplish pistils. Shade-tolerant Early Meadowrue is usually found on well-drained soils in moist open woods and on north-facing slopes, on rocky areas, in ravines and near limestone outcrops.