Friday, January 06, 2012

Black Snakeroot Flower


Black Snakeroot

Actaea racemosa

(ak-TEE-uh) (ray-see-MO-suh)

Synonyms: Black Cohosh, Fairy Candles, Cimicifuga racemosa


This plant changed names on me. I have always called it Cimicifuga racemosa but now see it is called Actaea racemosa. It is amazing to me how these things change over the years. This is a fun, large perennial that loves the shade garden although my experience has been that it does like some light but doesn’t want direct sun. It can also live in moist soil (a requirement actually) but doesn’t like standing water. The large, candle like flowers have a nice fragrance that can really perfume its area. There is some seedling activity but just enough to increase the population and not enough to be a nuisance.


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