OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Ranunculales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America

Actaea pachypoda

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 076-08-001:

Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH (PROBABLY MISAPPLIED) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Actaea alba

 

COMMON NAME:
Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_acal7_001_lvd

        

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm230322_2001

March    Oconee County    SC

Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm230325_2067

March    Pickens County    SC

Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_actaea_pachypoda_c

March        

Sepals and petals drop early, stamens numerous, stigma wider than ovulary, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

Ed Pivorun    ebp090404_4904

April    Walker County    GA

The Pocket on Pigeon Mountain

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm150412_288

April    Pickens County    SC

Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve

The petals are clawed, cleft apically, and early deciduous, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm150412_294

April    Pickens County    SC

Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm150423_586

April    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Perennial to 80cm tall with 2 large compound leaves, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE Cohosh, Doll's-eyes, and Goatsbeard

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm190412_7246

April    Rabun County    GA

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_actaea_pachypoda_4

April        

Small white flowers borne in a compact raceme extending above the leaves, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm060508_100

May    Macon County    NC

Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District

Four to five caducous sepals [that is, they fall off early or prematurely], per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm060508_115

May    Macon County    NC

Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm120506_396

May    Rabun County    GA

Chattahoochee National Forest

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm0407n_25

July    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm0407n_26

July    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Leaves readily distinguishable by swellings at the tips of the leaflets, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm100730_169

July    Jackson County    NC

Balsam Mountain Preserve

White berries with purplish black "eye" on thick fleshy pink pedicels, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm100730_169b

July    Jackson County    NC

Balsam Mountain Preserve

Fruiting pedicels very stout, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm100730_171

July    Jackson County    NC

Balsam Mountain Preserve

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    s040713_a

July    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Actaea, Astilbe, Aruncus, Caulophyllum, & Aralia can be difficult to distinguish.


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE compound leaves of woodland herbs, with toothed margins

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    s040713_b

July    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm170818_668

August    Jackson County    NC

Big Ridge Preserve

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

Will Stuart    wil1239848018_1a484a40d0

August    Swain County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway/Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The fruit resembles the porcelain eyes once used in dolls, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE fruits that are an aggregate of berries

image of Actaea pachypoda, Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry, White Cohosh

JK Marlow    jkm0310g_30

October    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

The fruit is poisonous, per Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition.

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Actaea pachypoda

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 076-08-001:
Actaea pachypoda   FAMILY Ranunculaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH (PROBABLY MISAPPLIED) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Actaea alba

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

24

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Rich cove forests and slopes, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in Mountains (uncommon in NC Piedmont, rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Complexly compound, with 2+ levels of pinnate and/or ternate compoundness
Alternate

FLOWER:
Spring
White
4-5 sepals
3-7 petals
Superior ovary

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Aggregate of berries

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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