Scientific Name:	Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd.
English Name:	baneberry
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference:	Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Classification Level:	Species
Taxonomy Comments:	VASCAN lists A. rubra ssp. rubra and ssp. arguta without reference, but possibly based on UBC specimen V182506, collected in 1904 by Armstrong (Field notes = anthers < 1mm); FNA (& FPNW) don't treat infrataxa: Actaea rubra is part of a circumboreal complex and is very similar to the black-fruited European species A . spicata Linnaeus, with which it is sometimes considered conspecific. The western N. A. plants of A . rubra have been called A . arguta and were distinguished on the basis of their smaller berries, more pubescent leaves, and narrow, more dissected leaflets. Those distinctions, however, are weak; specimens from the West often have fruits and leaves similar to those of plants from the East. A thorough study of A . spicata in the broad sense, on a worldwide scale, is needed to resolve the delimitation of taxa within this complex). PAF-Hultén (1968a) mapped the North American Actaea rubra with two races: the transcontinental subsp. rubra and the western subsp. arguta (Nutt.) Hultén. The latter reaches southern Alaska but not the Arctic.
Species Group:	Vascular Plant
Species Code:	ACTARUB
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Plantae Anthophyta Dicotyledoneae Ranunculales Ranunculaceae
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status:	G5 (May 2016)
Provincial Status:	S5 (Apr 2019)
BC List:	Yellow
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General Status Canada:	4 - Secure (2010)
Ecology & Life History
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Distribution
Endemic:	N
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References and Related Literature
No references available

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Actaea rubra. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 7, 2026).