French names:
Actée rouge Family: Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) Group: Baneberries Distinctive features:
Bright shiny red berries with a tiny black dot at the end of each one. Compound leaf. Similar species: • White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) - Very similar, but has white berries. Leaves less dissected. Flowers: Summer; White; Indistinguishable parts (petals); Small, white. In a cluster that is as wide as it is tall. Spring. Leaves: Compound, Toothed; Alternate, compound, toothed. More dissected than White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda). Height:
30-60 cm (11-23 in) Fruit/Seeds:
China-white berries with a conspicuous black dot at the end of each one. Habitat: Forests; Forests. Grows in Sun/Shade:
Shade Lifespan:
Perennial. Uses:
The berries are poisonous. As few as 5 or 6 of them can make you seriously ill. More can cause death.
Poisonous:
Berries are poisonous.
Books: Newcomb's Wildflower Guide: 424 Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers: 54 ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario: 350 Native/Non-native:
Native Status:
Common.
Origin and Meaning of Names:
Scientific Name: rubra: red For more information visit: Ontario Wildflowers Photographs:
130 photographs available, of which 9 are featured on this page. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.
Range Map is at the bottom of the page
A closer view of the flowers. Note that each individual flower is on a rather thin stalk.
The flower raceme is generally as wide as it is tall. White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) flower racemes are generally taller than they are wide.
A nice healthy clump of berries.
Mature berries. Note the glossy bright red colour. The berries are poisonous.
Berries just starting to grow. Note the thin stalks.
Just to confuse identification of this plant, Red Baneberry berries are sometimes white!
The way to tell them apart from White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda), is that Red Baneberry berries are on thin stalks and have a tiny dot at the end of each berry. White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) berries are held on thick stalks, and usually have a large conspicuous dot at the end of each berry.
Red Baneberry leaf: compound, with toothed leaflets. The leaves of Red Baneberry and White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) are virtually identical.
PLEASE NOTE: A coloured Province or State means this species occurs somewhere in that Province/State.
The entire Province/State is coloured, regardless of where in that Province/State it occurs.
(Range map provided courtesy of the USDA website
and is displayed here in accordance with their
Policies)
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