IVORY BANEBERRY 



Actaea arguta Nuttall 



Ivory baneberry is a white-fruited form of the red-fruited western 

 baneberry, Actaea arguta. It prefers shady situations, near the borders 

 of mountain streams, where the soil is rich and the air damp. The 

 flowers, which have a sweet, sickish odor, appear in spring in racemes 

 two inches long at the ends of the slender stems. The white petals and 

 sepals soon fall, and the raceme lengthens. When the berries develop 

 and become heavy, the stems bearing them appear almost too weak to 

 carry the load, and the fruits soon drop when ripe. The berries are said 

 to be poisonous, like the seeds of many other members of the But- 

 tercup Family, to which the plant belongs. 



Ivory baneberry is found from Utah and Colorado to Alberta and 

 British Columbia. 



The specimen sketched was collected near Vermilion Pass on the 

 motor road between Banff and the Columbia River Valley, at an alti- 

 tude of 4,000 feet. 



plate 73 



