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Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Common
Name

Scientific
Name

Plant
Family

Garden
Location

Prime
Season
Red Baneberry - red berry form
Actaea rubra Willd.
Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)
Woodland and Upland
Spring - Early Summer
Other names and notes
Baneberries are erect perennial woodland plants, 1 to 2 1/2 feet high, whose small white 4 to 10 part flowers occur on a single raceme. The flower cluster of A. rubra is a rounded cluster on a long stalk. The flower petals fall off early leaving the white stamens. The leaves of A. rubra are oblong coarsely toothed, alternate, 2 to 3 times 3-parted leaflets, similar to the White Baneberry except for some hair usually found on the underside. The lustrous berries may occasionally be white (photo page), but on this species the individual berries are each on a very slender greenish stalk, compared to the White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda Elliot) where the stalks are much thicker and red. HAZARD: Baneberry plants are poisonous and the berries are considered especially poisonous. The genus name is Greek, referring to an old Greek name and the species is Latin for "red". As it is a woodland plant, it's locations in the Upland Garden are mostly near Aster Aisle and the Fern Glen. In the Upland Garden it will be found along shady paths.
Red Baneberry
Red Baneberry
Above: Green fruit of late June. Below: Flower of early June. The inflorescence is a more rounded cluster than those of the White Baneberry.
Above: Fruit color changing in early July. Below: Mature fruit of late July. Note the thin greenish stalks of each berry.
Red baneberry
Red Baneberry
Red Baneberry
Red Baneberry
 
Red Baneberry
  

Notes: This plant is indigenous to the Garden area. Eloise Butler catalogued it on May 25, 1907; in addition in 1910 she planted some plants that she obtained in Cokato, MN, and on July 11, 1912 more plants from Foley, MN. This plant was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. It is native to Minnesota in most counties throughout the state except a few in the SW quadrant.

Medicinal Lore: Tilford reports that clinical herbalists have found the plant useful as a strong antispasmodic. The root is considered a strong alternative to black cohosh as a herbal remedy for menstrual cramping and menopausal discomforts. Densmore, in her study of the Minnesota Chippewa reports the same use but refers to the roots of those plants of the species which bear the white berries. The plants that bear red berries are said to be used for diseases of men. Care had to be taken in any case, as large quantities of baneberry consumed may cause cardiac arrest.

  
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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.  
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