Actaea (plant)

Actaea, commonly called baneberry, bugbane and cohosh, is a genus of flowering plants of the family Ranunculaceae, native to subtropical, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America.

"Baneberry" redirects here. For the community in the United States, see Baneberry, Tennessee. For the botched nuclear test, see Yucca Flat § Baneberry.

Actaea
Actaea rubra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Subfamily: Ranunculoideae
Tribe: Cimicifugeae
Genus: Actaea
L.
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]
  • Actinospora Turcz. ex Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
  • Actinospora Turcz.
  • Botrophis Raf.
  • Christophoriana Mill.
  • Cimicifuga Wernisch.
  • Dipleina Raf.
  • Macrotrys Raf.
  • Megotrys Raf.
  • Pityrosperma Siebold & Zucc.
  • Souliea Franch.
  • Thalictrodes Kuntze

Taxonomy

The genus was redefined to include Cimicifuga and Souliea in the 1990s[2] (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 returning it to the original Linnean concept of the genus.[3] The number of species in Actaea is to 25–30 using this concept. Other botanists (e.g., Hoffman 1999, Wang et al. 1999, Lee & Park 2004, Wang et al. 2009[4]) reject this merger because only one group (Actaea) have fleshy fruit while the remainder have dry fruit. However, this narrower generic concept works for only a single morphological character and other characters such as number of carpels moves the generic boundary. The genus is treated here in its broader sense.

Species
Cimicifuga Brunette or "Brunette bugbane" is a variety of A. simplex (U.K.)

Plants of the World Online currently (2023) includes:[5]

  1. Actaea arizonica (S.Watson) J.Compton – Arizona bugbane
  2. Actaea asiatica H.Hara
  3. Actaea austrokoreana (H.W.Lee & C.W.Park) Cubey
  4. Actaea bifida (Nakai) J.Compton
  5. Actaea biternata (Siebold & Zucc.) Prantl
  6. Actaea brachycarpa (P.K.Hsiao) J.Compton
  7. Actaea cimicifuga L.
  8. Actaea cordifolia DC.
  9. Actaea dahurica (Turcz. ex Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Franch. (syn. Cimicifuga dahurica) - Sheng ma in Chinese (Chinese: 升麻; pinyin: Sheng ma)
  10. Actaea elata (Nutt.) Prantl
  11. Actaea erythrocarpa (Fisch.) Kom.
  12. Actaea europaea (Schipcz.) J.Compton
  13. Actaea frigida (Royle) Prantl
  14. Actaea heracleifolia (Kom.) J.Compton
  15. Actaea japonica Thunb.
  16. Actaea kashmiriana (J.Compton & Hedd.) J.Compton
  17. Actaea laciniata (S.Watson) J.Compton
  18. Actaea lancifoliolata (X.F.Pu & M.R.Jia) J.P.Luo, Q.Yuan & Q.E.Yang
  19. Actaea × ludovicii B.Boivin
  20. Actaea matsumurae (Nakai) J.Compton & Hedd. – Kamchatka bugbane, Japanese bugbane
  21. Actaea muliensis J.P.Luo, Q.E.Yang & Q.Yuan
  22. Actaea nanchuanensis (P.K.Hsiao) J.P.Luo, Q.Yuan & Q.E.Yang
  23. Actaea pachypoda Elliott – white baneberry, white cohosh, doll's eyes
  24. Actaea podocarpa DC.
  25. Actaea purpurea (P.K.Hsiao) J.Compton
  26. Actaea racemosa L. – black cohosh, black bugbane
  27. Actaea rubifolia (Kearney) Kartesz
  28. Actaea rubra (Aiton) Willd. (syn. Actaea erythrocarpa) – red baneberry
  29. Actaea simplex (DC.) Wormsk. ex Prantl
  30. Actaea spicata L. (syn. Actaea alba) – baneberry, herb christopher - type species
  31. Actaea taiwanensis J.Compton, Hedd. & T.Y.Yang
  32. Actaea vaginata (Maxim.) J.Compton
  33. Actaea yunnanensis (P.K.Hsiao) J.Compton

Etymology

Actaea is derived from the Greek name for elder (Sambucus); it was named by Pliny because the leaves of Actaea and Sambucus are similar in appearance.[6]

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.

Use and toxicity
White baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) in Canada

Baneberry contains cardiac toxins that can have an immediate sedative effect on human cardiac muscle. The berries are the most poisonous part of the plant (hence the name baneberry). Children have been poisoned by eating the waxy, shiny red or white berries. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death. It is toxic to rabbits.[7] The berries are harmless to birds, the plant's primary seed disperser.

The synonym Cimicifuga, meaning 'bed bug repellent', has traditional uses: for example, in pharmacology, Cimicifugae rhizoma is a herbal medicine Sheng ma, a Chinese preparation which may be extracted from the roots of A. dahurica and A. heracleifolia. The roots of A. rubra contain β-sitosterol glucoside.[8]

Actaea species are in the same subfamily as plants in the genus Aconitum, a highly toxic plant genus which contains wolfbane and several varieties of monkshood.[9]

References

References
  1. "Actaea L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  2. Compton, James A.; Culham, Alastair; Jury, Stephen L. (1998). "Reclassification of Actaea to include Cimicifuga and Souliea (Ranunculaceae): Phytogeny inferred from morphology, nrDNA ITS, and cpDNA trnL‐F sequence variation". Taxon. 47 (3): 593–634. doi:10.2307/1223580. JSTOR 1223580.
  3. Compton, James A.; Culham, Alastair (2002). "Phylogeny and Circumscription of Tribe Actaeeae (Ranunculaceae)". Systematic Botany. 27 (3): 502–511. doi:10.1043/0363-6445-27.3.502 (inactive 2023-08-01). JSTOR 3093958.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2023 (link)
  4. Wang et al 2009.
  5. Plants of the World Online: Actaea L. (retrieved 7 October 2023)
  6. Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521866453 (hardback), ISBN 9780521685535 (paperback). p 35
  7. Camilla Bergstrøm. Feeding rabbits: Toxic plants
  8. Ali, Zulfiqar; Khan, Shabana; Khan, Ikhlas (2006). "Phytochemical Study of Actaea rubra and Biological Screenings of Isolates". Planta Medica. 72 (14): 1350–2. doi:10.1055/s-2006-951696. PMID 17024608. S2CID 31141951.
  9. Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, ISBN 0-87842-359-1

Bibliography

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