Actaea
Read about Actaea in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Actaea (ancient name of the elder, transferred by Linnaeus). Ranunculaceae. Actea. Baneberry. Cohobh. Native hardy herbacous perennials. Sometimes offered in collections of hardy border plants. Not to be confounded with blue cohosh, which is Caulophyllum. Leaflets of the twice- or thrice-ter- nate lvs. ovate, sharply cleft, and cut- toothed: fls. small, white, in terminal aureum. racemes; sepals .4 or 5, falling early; petals 4-10, clawed; stamens many: fr. a many-seeded berry. Acteas are grown chiefly for the showy spikes of small white flowers in spring, and handsome clusters of berries in autumn. Useful for rockery and wild garden, or for clumps and borders. They thrive in rich woods and shade. Propagation is by seeds sown in late fall to germinate the next spring or sown in spring. Old seed is said not to germinate well. A more satisfactory means of propagation is by root-division in spring.
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 Actaea rubra | ||||||||||||
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Actaea (baneberry or bugbane) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The genus is closely related to Cimicifuga and Souliea, and many botanists include those genera within Actaea (e.g. Compton et al. 1998, Compton & Culham 2002, Gao et al. 2006, RHS Plant Finder, 2007) based on combined evidence from DNA sequence data, similarity in biochemical constituents and on morphology; if included, the number of species in Actaea rises to 25-30. Other botanists (e.g. Hoffman 1999, Wang et al. 1999, Lee & Park 2004) reject this merger because only one group (Actaea) have fleshy fruit while the remainder have dry fruit. The genus is treated here in its narrow sense, comprising four to eight species.
- Selected species
- Actaea asiatica
- Actaea pachypoda - White Baneberry, White Cohosh, Doll's Eyes
- Actaea rubra (syn. Actaea erythrocarpa) - Red Baneberry
- Actaea spicata (syn. Actaea alba) - Baneberry, Herb Christopher
The name Actaea alba (L.) Mill. is a confused one (Fernald 1940); although described as an American species (now named A. pachypoda), the illustration on which the description was based was actually a picture of the European A. spicata, and strictly, the name is therefore a synonym of the European species. Some texts however still treat A. pachypoda under this name.
Actaea is recorded as a food plant for the larva of the Dot Moth.
References
- Compton, J. A., Culham, A. & Jury, S. L. (1998). Reclassification of Actaea to include Cimicifuga and Souliea (Ranunculaceae): Phylogeny inferred from morphology, nrDNA ITS, and cpDNA trnL-F sequence variation. Taxon 47: 593–634.
- Compton, JA & Culham, A., 2002. Phylogeny and circumscription of tribe Actaeeae (Ranunculaceae). Syst. Bot., 27(3): 502-511
- Fernald, M. L. 1940. What is Actaea alba? Rhodora 42: 260-265.
- Gao, J-C., Zhang, J-C., Lu, Z-J, Zhu G-Y, Yang, M-S & Xiao, P-G, 2006. Chemical constituents of Actaea asiatica Hara and their anti-osteoporosis activities Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 34(9): 710-713
- Hoffman, M. H. 1999. The phylogeny of Actaea (Ranunculaceae): a biogeographical approach. Pl. Syst. Evol. 216: 251–263.
- Lee, H.-W. & Park, C.-W. (2004). New Taxa of Cimicifuga (Ranunculaceae) from Korea and the United States. Novon 14: 180–184 (available online (pdf file).
- RHS Plant Finder http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder.asp
- Wang, W. T., Li, L.-Q. & Wang, Z. (1999). Notulae de Ran-unculaceis Sinensibus XXIII. Acta Phytotax. Sin. 37: 209–219.
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Actaea (treats genus in broad sense)
- Flora of China: Actaea (treats genus in narrow sense)
- Flora of North America: Actaea (treats genus in narrow sense)
