Thalictrum scabrifolium Franchet var. leve Franchet, Pl. Delavay. 17. 1889.

Plants ca. 60 cm tall, glabrous. Stems branched, erect, sulcate or sometimes smooth. Leaves both basal and cauline; petiole 2--9 cm; leaf blade 2- or 3-ternate, 10--18 cm; leaflet blade orbicular or cuneate-obovate, 1--2.8 × 1--4.6 cm, papery, base cordate, margin 6--9-lobed; lobes crenate. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, pleiochasial, flat topped, many flowered. Sepals 4, early deciduous, whitish green, ca. 3.5 mm. Stamens many; filament whitish, 3--4 mm, apex strongly dilated, slightly narrower than anther; anther ca. 1 mm, apex obtuse. Carpels 4--15; style 0.2--0.3 mm; stigma conspicuous. Achenes sessile; body narrowly cylindric-ovoid, 1--3 mm; persistent style straight, 0.2--0.3 mm; veins 6--8, stout. Fl. Aug--Sep.

This species differs from Thalictrum scabrifolium in being glabrous and having leaflets with fewer crenate lobes and much shorter styles. Thalictrum leve may be synonymous with T. calcicola T. Shimizu (Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 24: 41. 1969), described from N Thailand, as was noted by Tamura (J. Phytogeogr. Taxon. 28: 16. 1980; and in Thai Forest Bull., Bot. 25: 980. 1997), but further study is required. If the two taxa are indeed conspecific, then the name T. calcicola has priority.

* Forested and stony hills, meadows in forests; ca. 1900 m. NW Yunnan (Heqing Xian).