Actaea L.

Herbs, erect, perennial; rootstock horizontal, covered with leaf sheaths; stems glabrous. Leaves alternate, 3 - 4 times ternately compound; leaflets linear, obliquely cuneate at base, acute-acuminate at apex, serrate along margins; terminal leaflet often 3-lobed. Inflorescences short terminal racemes. Flowers crowded on the axis, actino- morphic, white. Sepals 3 - 5, petaloid, caducous. Petals 3 - 5(-10), spathulate. Stamens many; filaments long. Carpel single; stigma rounded, sessile. Fruit a berry, somewhat flattened; seeds many.

Northern temperate regions; ca 10 species, one in India.

List of Lower Taxa