Species Name:  Actaea pachypoda & Actaea rubra

Common Name: Dolls eye & Red Baneberry

Zone: 2 to 8

Distribution: Actaea pachypoda: eastern Quebec and Ontario south to Georgia, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Actaea rubra: across northern Canada south to Conneticutt and New Jersey.

Seed collection:  Fruits mature in late August through September in upstate New York.  Baneberry fruit changes color when seed is mature.  Red banebery matures a few weeks earlier than Dolls Eye. Red baneberry turns a ruby red color and White baneberry turns porcelain white.  Fruit can be collected anytime after the fruit begins to change color. The fruit will remain on the plant for several weeks until it begins to rot.

Seed handling: Blank

Germination requirements: Blank

Ecology: Blank

Harvest Red baneberry fruits when they begin to change color from green to ruby red.

Harvest Dolls eye fruits when they begin to change color from green to porcelain white.

Dolls eye seedlings a few weeks after germination.
Young plants first develop three leaflets.

this page updated February 20, 2008