Actaea racemosa (black cohosh)

Black cohosh is a popular herbal remedy for treating the symptoms of menopause, but
wild harvesting for a growing international trade has raised concerns about the future of
this and some related species.

Taxonomy
Class: Equisetopsida
Subclass: Magnoliidae

Superorder: Ranunculanae

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Ranunculaceae
Actaea racemosa (Photo: H. Zell, licensed under CC by 3.0) Genus: Actaea

Species information
Scientific name: Actaea racemosa L.

Common names:
black cohosh, black snakeroot, black bugbane, squawroot (English); acte grappes (French);
Traubensilberkerzen, Frauenwurzel, Nordamerikanische Schlangenwurzel (German).

Synonyms:
The synonym Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. is commonly used in medical and herbal literature as
well as less recent botanical and horticultural sources. A full list of synonyms is available from the
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
Conservation status:
Global NatureServe Status: G4 (apparently Secure), however assessed as N2 (imperilled) in Canada
and S1 (critically imperilled) in Massachusetts and Illinois.

Habitat: Moist, partially shaded woodlands and rocky thickets of eastern North America.
Key Uses: Medicinal, ornamental.

Known hazards:
Herbal medicines containing black cohosh are generally regarded as safe if taken as directed.
Though poorly substantiated, some serious adverse reactions to black cohosh have been reported.
About this species
An attractive woodland plant native to Northern America, black cohosh is commonly grown as a garden
ornamental in temperate regions. It is the source of several medicines traditionally used by native North
Americans as well as early European settlers, and is a globally popular herbal remedy for treating the
symptoms of menopause.

It is almost exclusively harvested from the wild, hence black cohosh has been the subject of some
concern for conservationists and regulators as the global demand for products containing this herb
increases. The popularity of black cohosh is also having an impact on other species of Actaea and similar
plants, which are sometimes confused with black cohosh or intentionally substituted by unscrupulous
traders.

Discover more
-Geography and distribution- -Description- -Actaea or Cimicifuga?-
-Threats and conservation- -Uses- -Black cohosh at Kew-

-References and credits- -Related Links- -Related Species-

Geography and distribution

Black cohosh grows primarily on the moist, fertile slopes of deciduous woodlands along the eastern
United States and southeastern Canada. It has a broad distribution, which overlaps with those of several
other American Actaea species.

Various species of Actaea, including black cohosh, are cultivated as ornamentals in partially shaded or
woodland gardens in temperate regions.

Back to navigation

Description
Overview: An attractive clump-forming herbaceous perennial that can reach a height of 2m or more.
The plant produces tall, narrow spikes of small, white flowers that have a tendency to bend slightly
towards the sun.

Leaves: The leaves are compound (divided into many smaller leaflets). The leaflets are usually mid to
dark green and toothed, with 25 sets branching out in groups of three along the petiole (leaf stem).
Individual plants may have as few as just one or two compound leaves of up to 60 cm in length. Clumps
can become sizeable over time.

Flowers: Tall flower stems branch into several long, narrow racemes (flower spikes) of small creamy-
white flowers from June to September. These appear as a cluster of stamens (male parts) surrounding
the stigma (female part) with no petals or sepals apparent. They have a mildly foetid smell that attracts
flies as pollinators.

Fruits: Black cohosh produces what are known as follicles, on short stalks along the flower stem. These
are dry fruits that develop from each flower and split open across the top and down one side to reveal
the seeds.

Seeds: Each follicle contains two rows of tiny, smooth, brown seeds - similar in shape to the segments of
an orange.

Back to navigation
Actaea or Cimicifuga?
Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus published the name
Actaea racemosa in Species Plantarum in 1753.

On noting the marked difference between the dry follicles

produced by black cohosh and the bright fleshy fruits of
some other Actaea species, British-American botanist
Thomas Nuttall moved this plant to the genus Cimicifuga
in 1818.

There it remained, as Cimicifuga racemosa, until 1998

when scientists studying the entire group concluded that,
in spite of the differing fruits, the genera Actaea and
Cimicifuga are so genetically similar that they should not
remain separate.

Hence black cohosh is often known by the synonym

Cimicifuga racemosa, which was considered the correct Developing fruits of Actaea racemosa
scientific name for this species until relatively recently. (Photo: H. Zell, licensed under CC by 3.0)

Back to navigation

Threats and conservation

For medicinal purposes it is usually the rhizome (underground stem) of black cohosh that is used and so
the entire plant must be dug up in order to harvest the medicinal part. Black cohosh is almost
exclusively harvested from the wild, and global demand has been increasing over time with over
40 million plants harvested for the international marketplace between 2000 and 2010. To add to this,
plants grown from seed can take as long as three to four years before they flower and even longer
before the rhizome reaches a reasonable size for harvesting, which places a further strain on wild
populations and makes cultivated black cohosh products more expensive.

Although not currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, black cohosh has been the
subject of ongoing monitoring by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Forest Service
due to reports that local populations are in decline. Growing international trade has been identified as
the primary threat, although habitat loss may also be an issue in some areas. In particular, reports
suggest that black cohosh is threatened in the states of Massachusetts and Illinois, but limited data
regarding other regions, as well as inconsistencies in data collection over time, means further
assessment is required for Actaea racemosa in order to safeguard its future.

A proposal to include Actaea racemosa in Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which aims to protect species from over-exploitation, was
rejected in 2002 and further review recommended.

Back to navigation
Uses
Traditional medicine
Black cohosh rhizome was traditionally used by a number of Native
American tribes, including the Cherokee and Iroquois, for a broad
range of complaints including rheumatism and tuberculosis and as a
gynaecological aid.

In modern Western herbal medicine, use of black cohosh is generally

limited to treating the symptoms of menopause and other complaints
of the female reproductive system, but application across a much
broader range of disorders, including arthritis and tinnitus, is still
supported by many. Black cohosh was noted as one of the five top
selling over-the-counter herbal remedies in the United States in 2013.

Ornamental
Black cohosh is particularly prized for its clump-forming habit and tall
spikes of creamy-white flowers that stand out in a woodland garden
setting. It has received a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Award of
Actaea racemosa (Photo: H. Zell,
Garden Merit. licensed under CC by 3.0)

Cultivation
Black cohosh is fairly easy to grow in a cool, partially shaded border or woodland garden. The soil should
be moist with plenty of organic matter, although black cohosh can also be grown in slightly more rocky
settings.

The quickest method of propagation is to divide the rootstock of a large clump in early spring, ensuring
that each piece of rhizome includes at least one bud. Propagation by seed is also possible, although
plants grown in this way will take longer to reach flowering.

Back to navigation

Black cohosh at Kew

Black cohosh can be seen growing at the edge of Kews Woodland Garden (near the south end of the
Princess of Wales Conservatory).

Several historical and more recent samples of dried black cohosh rhizome are held in Kews Economic
Botany Collection. Specimens like these are often used as benchmarks to aid in the identification,
analysis and authentication of herbal products and raw materials found in trade. These samples are
available to researchers by appointment.

Preserved specimens of Actaea racemosa are held in Kews Herbarium where they are available to
researchers by appointment. Images of some of these specimens are available online in Kews
Herbarium Catalogue.

Black cohosh and Kews Medicinal Plant Names Services project

Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) is a Kew project working with herbal regulators, traders and
practitioners to clear up confusions surrounding plant names for the broader benefit of the general
public.

For example, although black cohosh (A. racemosa) is used to treat the symptoms of menopause, three
species of Actaea from Asia (A. cimicifuga, A. dahuria and A. heracleifolia) are used in Traditional
Chinese Medicine for very different complaints, such as toothache and diarrhoea. The problem is that
all these species are referred to by the same pharmaceutical name Cimicifugae Rhizoma in some
important medicinal literature. In addition, because pharmaceutical names like this one are written in
Latin, they can be easily confused with scientific plant names leading to misunderstandings about which
species is being referred to.

This poses potentially serious problems in trade and medical practice since it means herbal products
with different chemistry are easily mixed-up or misused unless the correct scientific name of the plant
involved is included in literature and on labelling. Kews MPNS are helping the industry deal with
problems like these by providing services to link accepted scientific names with as many common, drug
and pharmaceutical names as possible. One of these services is a searchable online portal.

Search the Medicinal Plant Names Services portal

Back to navigation

References and credits

Anon (Updated 2015). Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program: Black Cohosh Fact Sheet.
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. Available online (accessed 15 May 2015).

Brinkmann, J. (2010). Taking a closer look at the US black cohosh rhizome trade. HerbalEGram
7(12). American Botanical Council. Available online (accessed 12 May 2015).

Compton, J. A., Culham, A. & Jury, S. L. (1998). Reclassification of Actaea to include Cimicifuga and
Souliea (Ranunculaceae): phylogeny inferred from morphology, nrDNA ITS, and cpDNA trnL-F
sequence variation. Taxon 47(3): 593634.

Davis, J. (2013). Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa L.). Extension: WNC Natural Products Project.
Available online (accessed 14 September 2015).

Lonner, J. (2007). Medicinal Plant Fact Sheet: Cimicifuga racemosa / Black Cohosh. A collaboration
of the IUCN Medicinal Plant Specialist Group, PCA-Medicinal Plant Working Group, and North
American Pollinator Protection Campaign. PCA-Medicinal Plant Working Group, Arlington,
Virginia. Available online (accessed 12 May 2015).

Lyke, J. (2001). Summary of the Conservation Status of Cimicifuga ssp. (Cimicifuga rubifolia, C.
americana, and C. racemosa). Plant Conservation Alliance Medicinal Plant Working Group.
Available online (accessed 11 May 2015).

Painter, D., Perwaiz, S. & Murty, M. (2010). Black cohosh products and liver toxicity: update.
Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter 20(1): 12. Health Products and Food Branch, MedEffect,
Canada. Available online (accessed 15 May).

Pengelly, A. & Bennett, K. (2012). Appalachian Plant Monographs. Black Cohosh Actaea racemosa
L. Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies. Available online (accessed 11 May 2015).

Robbins, C. (1999). Medicine from U.S. Wildlands: An Assessment of Native Plant Species
Harvested in the United States for Medicinal Use and Trade and Evaluation of the Conservation and
Management Implications. TRAFFIC North America. Available online (accessed 11 May 2015).

Small, E. & Catling, P. M. (2013). Canadian Medicinal Crops: Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. (Black
Cohosh). Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (accessed 11 May 2015).

Southern Cross Plant Science (2012). Medicinal Plant Monographs: Actaea racemosa. Southern
Cross University, Australia. Available online (accessed 11 May 2015).
Kew science editor: Kristina Patmore
Copyediting: Emma Tredwell

Although every effort has been taken to ensure that the information contained in these pages is reliable
and complete, notes on hazards, edibility and such-like included here are recorded information and do
not constitute recommendations. No responsibility will be taken for readers own actions.

Back to navigation

Related Links
Search the Medicinal Plant Names Services portal
Kews Woodland Garden
Search Kews Herbarium Catalogue
Search Kew's databases for more information on Actaea racemosa
Actaea racemosa on the AHPA Botanical Authentication site
Actaea racemosa in the RHS Plant Finder
Back to navigation

Related Species
Thalictrum delavayi (Chinese meadow rue)
Anemone halleri (Hallers anemone)
Helleborus thibetanus (tie kuai zi)
Back to navigation