i5 I. 2 
ACTAEA 
Family 4. ACTAEACEAE 
Actaeaceae nobis; Actaeeae Rouy et Foucaud FI. Fratice i, 54(1893); Corbiere FI. Normand. 26(1893). 
Perennial herbs. Inflorescence a raceme, petaloid. Flowers small, numerous, actinomorphic, 
heterochlamydeous. Sepals 3 — 5, subequal, petaloid. Petals 3 — 10 ; usually white, small, flat. 
Stamens 00, hypogynous, anthers introrse. Carpel 1. Fruit indehiscent, succulent. Seed sessile, 
dilated. 
This family connects the tribe Helleboreae of the family Ranunculaceae and the family Berberidaceae. 
Only British genus : — Actaea. 
Genus 1. Actaea 
Actaea L. [Gen. PL 151 (1737);] Sp. PI. 504 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 222 (1754) partim ; Miller Gard. 
Diet. ed. 8 (1768); Bentham and Hooker Gen. PI. i, 9 (1862); Prantl op. cit. 56 et 59 (1891); excluding Cimicifuga 
(L.) et Macrotrys (Rafin.). [Christophoriana Tournefort Inst. 299 (1700).] 
Perennial herbs, with rhizomes. Leaves alternate, with stipuloid sheaths, petiolate ; laminae pinnate 
or ternate ; lobes ovate, toothed. Inflorescence racemose. Sepals 3 — 5, usually 4, petaloid, white, 
caducous. Petals 4 — 10, usually 4, white, flat, smaller than the sepals, slightly clawed, without nectaries. 
Stamens co , anthers introrse, filaments white. Carpels 1 to each flower, ovules 00 , style absent, 
placentation lateral and in 2 rows. Fruit succulent, indehiscent. Seeds 00 , flattened, testa thick and 
smooth. 
2 species ; north temperate zone. Only British species : — A. spicata. 
I. ACTAEA SPICATA. Herb Christopher or Baneberry. Plate 163 
Christophoriana Gerard Herball 829 (1597); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 262 (1724). 
Actaea spicata L. Sp. PI. 504 (1753) excl. var. alba\ Miller Gard. Diet. no. 1 (1768); Smith FI. Brit. 562 
(1800); Syme Eng. Bot. i, 67 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 54 (1893); 
A. spicata var. nigra L. loc. cit. 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 918; FI. Dan. t. 498; Reichenbach Icon. t. 
1 2 1, fig- 4739- 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 163. (a) Lower part of plant. (< b) Upper part 
of plant. ( c ) Flowering branch. ( d , e) Flowers. (/) Sepals (2 enlarged). 
( g ) Petals (2 enlarged). ( h ) Infructescence. Hort., origin West Riding of 
Yorkshire (S. H. B.). 
Exsiccata : — Herb. FI. Ingric. i, 28. 
Perennial. Rhizome rather short and stout. Shoot glabrous or 
almost so, 3 — 8 dm. high. Stem simple, rarely branched, leafless below, 
1 — 4 leaves above. Leaves with petioles shorter than the laminae; 
lateral pinnae of the laminae shortly stalked, terminal one with a long 
stalk ; pinnules incise-dentate. Raceme 3 — 5 cm. long, with numerous 
flowers. Pedicels about as long as the flowers, pubescent. Flowers 
about 1 — 2 cm. in diameter; late May to July. Sepals 4, whitish. Petals 4 (rarely o), white, 
spathulate, narrower than the sepals. Stamens 00 ; filaments widening a little above. Fruit purplish 
black (in the known British wild examples), elliptical, about 9 mm. long and 2 broad. 
Very local; in ash woods and scrub on calcareous soils in the East, West, and North Ridings of 
Yorkshire, in Lancashire, and in Westmorland ; introduced in some of its recorded stations, as at 
Cleish Castle, Kinross-shire. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe (ascending to 
1600 m.), Russia, Spain, Italy; Asia. The allied A. alba Miller loc. cit. occurs in North America. 
