Actaea simplex (DC.) Wormsk. ex Prantl - syn.Cimicifuga simplex (DC.) Wormsk. ex Turcz.; Actaea cimicifuga var. simplex DC. - Ranunculaceae \\
单穗升麻 dan sui sheng ma (chin.), Kamchatka bugbane

Perennial herb, up to 1m high, native to Japan, the Kamtschatka Peninsula, Manchuria and Sakhalin; leaves alternate, dark-green, alternate, pinnate, leaflets ovate; flowers white, in long racemes; fruits are ornamental brown follicles. \\
Cultivated as ornamental: "The selection of cultivars focuses mainly on the colour of the flowers and the leaves. There are four example cultivars with pink flowers or red leaves."
[[http://en.hortipedia.com/wiki/Actaea_simplex]]

"Floral fragrances in four species of Cimicifuga (Ranunculaceae) were collected by sorption and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. One pollination morph in C. simplex was found to contain three benzenoid compounds absent in the two other morphs. Two of these substances — methyl anthranilate and isoeugenol — induce behavioural modification in pollinating butterflies. The function of a range of terpenes present in small amounts in all analyzed species is unknown, but they may be involved in herbivore deterrence." \\
[Floral fragrances in Cimicifuga: Chemical polymorphism and incipient speciation in //Cimicifuga simplex//., Bergstrom, G., Pellmyrt, O., Biochemical systematics and ecology, Vol.15(4), 1987, 441-444]

{{:cimicifuga_simplex.jpg?500}} \\
Addisonia, vol.2, t.58 (1917) [M.E.Eaton] \\
[[http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=18142]]