''Actaea elata''''Actaea elata''.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).''Actaea elata''.
USDA PLANTS Profile.''Actaea elata''.
NatureServe. 2012. ( syn. ''Cimicifuga elata'')''Cimicifuga elata''.
Burke Museum of History and Culture. University of Washington. 2013.''Cimicifuga elata''.
Flora of North America. is a species of flowering plant in the

buttercup family Ranunculaceae (, buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium ...

known by the common name tall bugbane. It is native to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

of North America, where it can be found in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Description

This species is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

reaching a maximum height around 1.8 meters. It is hairy in texture, with some glandular hairs. The leaves are made up of many lobed, toothed leaflets which resemble

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

leaves in shape. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a branching

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

up to 17 centimeters long. The panicle bears many flowers, each with five white or pink-tinged

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s, but no petals. The flower presents a spray of long white

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. Blooming occurs from May''Cimicifuga elata''.
Washington Natural Heritage Program. Washington Department of Natural Resources. 1998. or June to August. The fruit is a flattened follicle up to 1.2 centimeters long. The fruits are poisonous.Ellison, R
Plant Propagation Protocol for ''Actaea elata''.
University of Washington. April 18, 2012. The plant has an unpleasant scent.Foster, S. and C. Hobbs. ''Peterson Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. New York, NY. 2002. pg. 41.

Habitat

This species grows in moist woods and forest habitat. It is mostly restricted to lower elevations and is more common on north-facing slopes. It is associated with the forest trees

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

(''Pseudotsuga menziesii''),

bigleaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America. In addition to uses by animals, it is of some culinary and woodworking interest. Description Big ...

(''Acer macrophyllum''),

western redcedar ''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific re ...

(''Thuja plicata''),

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description ''Alnus rubra'' is the largest species of alder in ...

(''Alnus rubra''), and

vine maple ''Acer circinatum'', or vine maple, is a species of maple native to northwestern North America. Vine maple typically grows as a low-elevation coastal tree in temperate areas of high precipitation such as the west coast of Oregon and northern Cal ...

(''Acer circinatum''), and other forest plants such as

oceanspray ''Holodiscus discolor'', commonly known as ocean spray or oceanspray, creambush, or ironwood, is a shrub of western North America. Description ''Holodiscus discolor'' is a fast-growing deciduous shrub usually from to in width, and up to tal ...

(''Holodiscus discolor''),

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

(''Corylus cornuta''), sword fern (''Polystichum munitum''), and

snowberry ''Symphoricarpos'' is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, ''Symphoricarpos sinensis, S. sinensis'', which is indigenous to western China, all species a ...

(''Symphoricarpos albus''). Alpine enchanter's nightshade ''(Circaea alpina)'', herb robert ''(Geranium robertianum)'', and wall lettuce ''(Lactuca muralis)'' are

indicator species A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

for the plant, often growing alongside it. This species can dominate the forest understory where it is common.Helliwell, R
Tall Bugbane (''Cimicifuga elata'') Inventory in Douglas County, Oregon.
Report to the Interagency Special Status/Sensitive Species Program. FY2010 Inventory & Conservation Planning Project. January, 2011. The plant may be found in

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

s. It prefers the shade of dense forests. It can tolerate some breaks in the canopy but not large-scale clearing, such as

clearcutting Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with Shelterwood cutting, shelterwood and Seed tree, seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters t ...

. Some penetrating sunlight is beneficial for the plant during its reproductive season. Animals associated with the species include the

mountain beaver The mountain beaver (''Aplodontia rufa'')Other names include boomer, mountain boomer, ground bear, giant mole, gehalis, sewellel, suwellel, showhurll, showtl, and showte, as well as a number of other Native American terms. "Mountain beaver" is a ...

(''Aplodontia rufa''), particularly in Canada. Depending on location,

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...

s of the plant include

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

s, other types of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s, beetles, and

syrphid flies Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the l ...

.Klinkenberg, B. and R. Klinkenberg
A Recovery Strategy for Tall Bugbane (''Cimicifuga elata'') in Canada.
BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. March 31, 2003.

Distribution

This species has a limited distribution in its range. Most occurrences are in southern Oregon, where the populations can be large. There are fewer occurrences in Washington. In British Columbia, the plant is only known from the far southern regions of the province, near the

Chilliwack River Chilliwack ( ) is a city of about 100,000 people and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located about east of the City of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The enumerated population is 93,203 in the city and 113,767 in the gr ...

.Klinkenberg, Brian, Ed. 2013
''Actaea elata''.
E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. It is considered an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

in British Columbia.Tall Bugbane.
Stewardship Centre for British Columbia. There are ten known populations in British Columbia, making up less than 5% of the global population of the plant. In 2004 a new

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of the species was named and defined, var. ''alpestris''. This variety is endemic to southern Oregon and it differs from other members of its species by having scales along the lower stem, and often more

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

s. It may also be found at higher elevations. Threats to this species include processes that threaten its home ecosystems, such as the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Fire suppression Fire suppression may refer to: * Firefighting * Fire suppression systems * Wildfire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the availabl ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckselata Elata is a Greek village on the island of Chios. The village is situated on hilly terrain and has a population of several hundred. Elata Elata became a village hundreds of years ago when seven tribes came together to protect themselves from Tu ...

Flora of British Columbia Flora of Washington (state) Flora of Oregon Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall Plants described in 1838