Actaea racemosa L.
Black snakeroot, black baneberry, black bugbane, black cohosh, fairy candle
Black snakeroot is native to eastern North America.
Plants: 10–24″ (25–60 cm), with wiry stems. Don’t confuse black snakeroot with the unrelated plant Canadian black snakeroot. Both of these plants are found in eastern Canada and the eastern United States.
Leaves: Basal, deep green leaves are up to 3′ (1 m) in size, and are tripinately compound: split into three groups of three groups of three. They have irregular teeth. Leaflets are 1–4 ⨉ ¾–4″ (3–10 ⨉ 2–10 cm) in size.
Flowers: Cream-colored, fragrant flowers form on tall stalks up to 8′ (2.5 m) in height, with the flowering portions up to 1½′ (50 cm) tall. Flowers appear from June to July.
Fruits: A dry follicle ⅛–⅜″ (5–10 mm) long, with one carpel, containing several seeds.
Habitats: Rich soils in moist woods, ravines.
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Some similar plants. |
Edibility: Most members of the buttercup family, including other species of Actaea, are poisonous. Though black snakeroot is not considered a strong poison, its use for medicinal purposes is not adequately supported or refuted by scientific studies. (See the Wikipedia article below, or this article from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.) Liver damage has been reported in a few cases.
Online References:
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Actaea racemosa var. racemosa)
7/31/2016 · Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 
7/6/2013 · Mike and Ellen’s, Shohola, Pennsylvania · ≈ 7 × 10″ (16 × 25 cm) 
7/31/2016 · Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
7/6/2013 · Mike and Ellen’s, Shohola, Pennsylvania · ≈ 5 × 8″ (13 × 19 cm) 
7/6/2013 · Mike and Ellen’s, Shohola, Pennsylvania · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 21 cm) 
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Magnoliidae | Includes magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, and many others |
| Order | Ranunculales | Basal (evolved earlier) eudicots, also called “true dicots” |
| Family | Ranunculaceae | Buttercup family |
| Genus | Actaea | From ancient Greek, signifying a wet habitat and its leaves’ similarity to Sambucus leaves |
| Species | racemosa | Latin for "has a raceme," or flower spike (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
Actaea racemosa description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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