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Actaea rubra (Aiton) Willd.

Actaea rubra

Floral Description (North America):
  • Herbs , perennial, from caudices ca. 1 cm thick.
  • Leaves cauline, alternate, petiolate.
  • Leaf blade 1-3-ternately or -pinnately compound;
  • Leaflets ovate to narrowly elliptic, unlobed to 3-lobed, margins sharply cleft, irregularly dentate.
  • Inflorescences terminal or axillary, 25(-more)-flowered racemes, 2-17 cm;
  • Bracts leaflike, sometimes present between leaves and inflorescence, bracteoles 1-2, at base of each pedicel, not forming involucre.
  • Flowers bisexual, radially symmetric; sepals not persistent in fruit, 3-5, whitish green, plane, orbiculate, 2-4.5 mm;
  • Petals 4-10, distinct, cream colored, plane, spatulate to obovate, clawed, 2-4.5 mm;
  • Nectary absent;
  • Stamens 15-50;
  • Filaments filiform;
  • staminodes absent between stamens and pistils.
  • pistil 1, simple.
  • Ovules many per pistil.
  • Style very short or absent.
  • Fruits berries, solitary, sessile, broadly ellipsoid to nearly globose, sides smooth; beak a wart, terminal, to 1 mm.
  • Seeds dark brown to reddish brown, obconic to wedge-shaped, rugulose.
Common Names
in English: baneberry, red baneberry, snakeberry, actee rouge, baneberry, yerba del peco

Scientific Names (Synonyms)
  • Actaea alba (L.) Mill.
  • Actaea americana Pursh
  • Actaea americana var. alba (L.) Pursh
  • Actaea americana var. rubra (Aiton) Pursh
  • Actaea arguta Nutt.
  • Actaea arguta var. pauciflora R.R.Gates
  • Actaea arguta var. viridiflora (Greene) Tidestr. & Kittell
  • Actaea aspleniifolia Greene
  • Actaea brachypetala DC.
  • Actaea brachypetala var. alba DC.
  • Actaea brachypetala var. rubra (Aiton) DC.
  • Actaea californica Greene
  • Actaea caudata Greene
  • Actaea erythrocarpa (Fisch.) Kom.
  • Actaea erythrocarpa f. kamtschatika Kom.
  • Actaea longipes Spach
  • Actaea rubra subsp. arguta (Nutt.) Hultén
  • Actaea rubra f. arguta (Nutt.) Huth
  • Actaea rubra var. arguta (Nutt.) Breitung
  • Actaea rubra var. dissecta Britton
  • Actaea rubra var. gigantea R.R.Gates
  • Actaea rubra subsp. rubra
  • Actaea rubra f. rubra
  • Actaea rubra var. rubra
  • Actaea spicata var. alba L.
  • Actaea spicata var. arguta (Nutt. ex Torr. & A.Gray) Torr.
  • Actaea spicata f. arguta (Nutt. ex Torr. & A.Gray) Huth
  • Actaea spicata subsp. arguta (Nutt.) Hultén
  • Actaea spicata subsp. arguta (Nutt.) A.E. Murray
  • Actaea spicata var. dissecta (Britton) K.C.Davis
  • Actaea spicata var. erythrocarpa Fisch.
  • Actaea spicata subsp. erythrocarpa (Fisch.) Krylov
  • Actaea spicata var. rubra Aiton
  • Actaea spicata var. rubra Aiton
  • Actaea viridiflora Greene
  • Actaea viridiflora var. clementiorum R.R.Gates
  • Actaea vulgaris var. erythrocarpa (Fisch.) Spach
  • Christophoriana alba (L.) Nieuwl.
  • Christophoriana arguta (Nutt. ex Torr. & A.Gray) Lunell
  • Christophoriana arguta var. alabastrina Lunell
  • Christophoriana rubra (Aiton) Nieuwl.
  • Dipleina umbellata Raf.
Pharmacological Actions:
  • Berries considered poisonous; decoction of roots considered poisonous if taken in large quantities.
  • Poultice of chewed leaves applied to boils, wounds.
  • Various preparations from the roots used to treat coughs and colds, rheumatism, arthritis, swollen joints, sores, hemorrhages, stomachaches, syphilis
  • Root decoction taken to improve the appetite.
  • Roots eaten for stomach troubles.
  • Preparations from the entire plant as a purgative.
  • Infusions from the stems to increase milk flow.
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