All books
Entries
Pick a letter, or find an entry by name.
Actaea rubra
3-642.12.08English: Red baneberry; Chinaberry.
Synonym: Actinidia arguta.
Region: circumboreal, Europe, Norway, Russia to northern China, Japan, N. America, Alaska, Arctic to California, Philadelphia.
Habitat: moist shady areas; deciduous and mixed coniferous forests, open pine or spruce woodlands, moist to wet soils, open forest or dry slopes; swales, stream banks, swamps; from sea level to 3500 metres; tolerates most; prefers a humus-rich moist soil in light shade, amongst shrubs and in light woods.
Ecology: greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of plants, legumes
Content: ranunculin, protoanemonin; berberine; irritant oil; β-sitosterol glucoside.
Use: ornamental, for its attractive berries and upright clump forming habit; berries for poison arrows; root for menstrual problems; medicinal; ornamental; toxic.BotanyHerb; perennial; poisonous; 40 to 80 cm tall.
Rooit: thick rootstock.
Stems: one to a few ternately branched; with three leaves at the top, or three compound leaves and one upright flowering stalk from one point on the main central stem.
Leaves: coarsely toothed; deeply lobed margins; hairy veins on the undersides.
Flowers: sepals 3 to 5, petal-like, obovate, remain after flowering; petals deciduous, clawed at the base, 2 to 4 mm long, spatulate to obovate; stamens numerous, white.
Fruit: green berries, bright red, when ripe, or white in forma neglecta; extremely bitter; ellipsoid, containing several seeds; with a black dot; harmless to birds, poisonous to humans.
Dispersion: by birds.TaxonomyActaea rubra closely resembles Osmorhiza chilensis; however, red baneberry lacks the strong anise-like "spicy celery" odor of Osmorhiza chilensis, mountain sweetroot. Actaea rubra is very similar to the black-fruited European species Actaea spicata.
Synonym: Actinidia arguta.
Region: circumboreal, Europe, Norway, Russia to northern China, Japan, N. America, Alaska, Arctic to California, Philadelphia.
Habitat: moist shady areas; deciduous and mixed coniferous forests, open pine or spruce woodlands, moist to wet soils, open forest or dry slopes; swales, stream banks, swamps; from sea level to 3500 metres; tolerates most; prefers a humus-rich moist soil in light shade, amongst shrubs and in light woods.
Ecology: greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of plants, legumes
Content: ranunculin, protoanemonin; berberine; irritant oil; β-sitosterol glucoside.
Use: ornamental, for its attractive berries and upright clump forming habit; berries for poison arrows; root for menstrual problems; medicinal; ornamental; toxic.BotanyHerb; perennial; poisonous; 40 to 80 cm tall.
Rooit: thick rootstock.
Stems: one to a few ternately branched; with three leaves at the top, or three compound leaves and one upright flowering stalk from one point on the main central stem.
Leaves: coarsely toothed; deeply lobed margins; hairy veins on the undersides.
Flowers: sepals 3 to 5, petal-like, obovate, remain after flowering; petals deciduous, clawed at the base, 2 to 4 mm long, spatulate to obovate; stamens numerous, white.
Fruit: green berries, bright red, when ripe, or white in forma neglecta; extremely bitter; ellipsoid, containing several seeds; with a black dot; harmless to birds, poisonous to humans.
Dispersion: by birds.TaxonomyActaea rubra closely resembles Osmorhiza chilensis; however, red baneberry lacks the strong anise-like "spicy celery" odor of Osmorhiza chilensis, mountain sweetroot. Actaea rubra is very similar to the black-fruited European species Actaea spicata.