Actaea spicataL.

Baneberrybaneberrybaneberry, herb christopherEurasian baneberry

WFO wfo-0000519125 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Actaea spicata, photographed by Анна Рыбакова
fig. a Анна Рыбакова, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205746273
Actaea spicata, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. b Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205704082
Actaea spicata, photographed by J V
fig. c J V, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205258318
Actaea spicata, photographed by Эльмира
fig. d Эльмира, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205081441
Actaea spicata, photographed by Анна Рыбакова
fig. e Анна Рыбакова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204376026
Actaea spicata, photographed by Анна Рыбакова
fig. f Анна Рыбакова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204376173
Actaea spicata, photographed by Анна Рыбакова
fig. g Анна Рыбакова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204376378
Actaea spicata, photographed by CorentinD
fig. h CorentinD, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203180109

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 42 botanical countries

Regions where Actaea spicata is native: Afghanistan, Altay, Iran, Kazakhstan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AfghanistanAltayIranKazakhstanNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaEast HimalayaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine
Native distribution of Actaea spicata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
West Siberia WSB
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 189 in flower of 577 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Actaea spicata observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 189 of 577 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 5 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 9 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Actaea acuminata Royle
  • Actaea corymbosa Stokes
  • Actaea densiflora M.Kral
  • Actaea nigra (L.) G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.
  • Actaea spicata var. melanocarpa Ledeb.
  • Actaea spicata var. nigra L.
  • Actaea vulgaris Spach
  • Christophoriana spicata (L.) Moench
  • Christophoriana vulgaris Rupr.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.