Red Baneberry

Red Baneberry

Botanical Name: Actaea rubra

En Français: Actée rouge

Perennial

Colour: Red, White

Blooms: Summer - Zone 5

This perennial plant has a stalk 30 to 40 cm long. Its compound leaves are divided into dentate or serrate ovate leaflets. It may be distinguished from white baneberry by its rounder cluster of terminal flowers, which are small and white. It bears red berries on a slender, green stalk.

All portions of this plant are poisonous, but the fruit and rhizomes contain the highest toxic concentration.

Because of its attractive foliage, flowers, and bright red berries, Red Baneberry (Actaea rubra) is an excellent selection for cool shade gardens.

Other Characteristics

Pollinators: Bees, Other

Sun/Shade: Partial Sun, Shade

Other: Native to Canada

Height:  Up to 2 feet (70 cm) 

Planting and Care Considerations

The preference is light to moderate shade, moist to mesic conditions, and a somewhat acidic soil consisting of sandy loam, loam, or clay-loam with decaying organic matter.

Cut back after flowering or fruiting.

The seeds are slow to germinate, typically taking 2 years or more under natural conditions.

Sugar maple, white pine, white ash, red oak and basswood for the upper story. Plant this with other spring ephemerals such as spring beauty, toothwort, wild geranium, hepatica, bloodroot, zig-‐zag goldenrod. If the site is quite moist, add pagoda dogwood, starry Solomon's plume, and skunk cabbage.

Spread: up to 30 cm

Water: 

Best Soil: Clay, loam

Growth Habit: 

More Information

Links: 

https://m.espacepourlavie.ca/en/biodome-flora/red-baneberry, https://newfoundland-labradorflora.ca/flora/dview/?id=548