Tall meadow-rue grows in meadows, low thickets and swamps across eastern Canada and the eastern United States, from Newfoundland to Ontario and south to Georgia and Mississippi. VASCAN lists it as native in Quebec, and NatureServe assesses it as secure. Its summer flowers are constantly visited by bees and butterflies.
It was described by Frederick Pursh, and older botanical literature often uses the name Thalictrum polygamum. The common name king of the meadow reflects its height in wet meadows.