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Actaea

See list of 3 species in this genus

Actaea is circumscribed broadly here to include Cimicifuga, following the phylogenetic work of Compton et al. (1998).

  • 1a. Axis of inflorescence usually branched (i.e., the inflorescence a panicle); stigma borne on a short, stout style; fruit a follicle; petals represented by linear staminodes that are bifid at apex
  • 1b. Axis of inflorescence simple (i.e., the inflorescence a raceme) [Fig. 807]; stigma sessile or subsessile; fruit a berry [Fig. 807]; petals entire at apex
    • 2a. Pedicels of infructescence slender, 0.3–0.7 mm in diameter [Fig. 807]; berries red (rarely white); stigma narrower than ovary; leaflets commonly pubescent on the abaxial surface
    • 2b. Pedicels of infructescence thick, 1–2.5 mm in diameter; berries white (rarely red); stigma wider than ovary; leaflets glabrous or nearly so on the abaxial surface

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 Show photos of:   Each photo represents one species in this genus.