Actaea pachypoda
| Actaea pachypoda | |
|---|---|
| 240px | |
| Actaea pachypoda flowers | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Ranunculaceae |
| Genus: | Actaea |
| Species: | A. pachypoda |
| Binomial name | |
| Actaea pachypoda Elliot | |
Actaea pachypoda (Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry) is a flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern North America.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50 cm or more tall (1-1/2 to 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide). It has toothed, bipinnate compound leaves up to 40 cm long and 30 cm broad. The white flowers are produced in spring in a dense raceme about 10 cm long. Its most striking feature is its fruit, a 1 cm diameter white berry, whose size, shape, and black stigma scar give the species its other common name, "doll's eyes". The berries develop and ripen over the summer, and persist on the plant until frost. Fall color may be yellowish, and is fairly unremarkable.
White baneberry prefers clay to coarse loamy upland soils, and are found in hardwood and mixed-forest stands. In cultivation it requires part to full shade, rich loamy soil, and regular water with good drainage to reproduce its native habitat.
The berries are highly poisonous, and the entire plant is considered poisonous to humans. First Nations peoples are reported to have drunk a tea made from the root of this plant after childbirth.
References and external links
- Flora of North America: Actaea pachypoda
- Missouri Plants: Actaea pachypoda
- USDA Plants Profile: Actaea pachypoda
- Bioimages: Actaea pachypoda
- Missouri Botanical Garden Plantfinder Actaea pachypoda
- Karen Legasy, Shayna LaBelle-Beadman and Brenda Chambers. Forest Plants of Northeastern Ontario. Lone Pine Publishing / Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1995.
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