Actaea spicata Baneberry RR D N
Although a good way past the peak of its flowering season, we were lucky enough to find plants with both flowers and fruit showing. The fruits are green at first and eventually turn black. The leaves of this rare plant remind you of the introduced Aegopodium podagraria (Ground Elder) which by contrast is common and a difficult to eradicate garden weed.
Actaea spicata itself has been introduced to various parts of Britain and Ireland but is only truly native in an area close to the junction of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria. Here, it is was growing in the grykes of limestone pavement of the Southerscales reserve close to the main path but there may have been better specimens to see had we ventured onto the dangerously slippery rain soaked clints to look. Even the usually daring members of the Bradford Botany group gave that experience a miss on this thoroughly wet British summer's day.
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| Actaea spicata Baneberry |
Southerscales Reserve, Near Chapel-le-dale, Ingleton 15th July 2017
Added on 15th July 2017