Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh Plants & Seed
Easyliving Native Perennial Wildflowers
Native Wild flower Seed & Plants for Home Landscaping & Prairie Restorations
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Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh Pictures by cj
    

For other wildflowers visit the wildflower seed list or potted plants list, 
to order copy the orderform or 
email questions, comments, and orders to john@easywildflowers.com 
 
Please email for availability Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh potted plants, $7 each plus UPS shipping, please contact us by email with your address & zip code for shipping costs on potted plants.

Black Cohosh seeds are difficult and slow to germinate, 
Black Cohosh potted plants are available for spring shipment
Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh Actaea racemosa black bugbane, black snakeroot

Black Cohosh is used as a background plant in the landscape. Plant native wild Black Cohosh plants in rich, fertile, well-drained soils  with other native wildflowers like  Columbine  Green Dragon  American Spikenard  Jack-in-the-pulpit  Goat's Beard  Wild Ginger  Wild Geranium  Virginia Bluebells  Woodland Phlox  Jacob's Ladder  Bloodroot  Celandine Poppy   Woodland Spiderwort  Purple Trillium   White Trillium  Blue Cohosh   Shooting Star  Ginseng  Christmas Fern   Dutchman's Breeches 
Ordering a larger number of plants will increase the shipping only a small amount

Black cohosh is an attractive perennial herb native to the Midwestern and Eastern United States. It is generally found growing in rich, fertile, well-drained soils in moist woods, bases of bluffs, and ravines in deciduous forests. Black Cohosh root has been used historically to treat a variety of human ailments including sore throat, rheumatism, menstruation and uterine difficulties, menopausal and premenstrual syndrome symptoms, and as an astringent, diuretic, anti-diarrheal, cough suppressant, and diaphoretic. Presently the herb is approved in Germany for treating premenstrual discomfort and menopausal ailments, and is commonly used by North American women to replace or supplement estrogen treatments in hormone replacement therapy. The root has been clinically successful at treating menopausal hot flashes and is therefore in great and growing demand.

Upon harvest, the seeds apparently go into various stages of dormancy that can make germination very uneven and unreliable. Some seeds can remain dormant for years. Many techniques are used on seeds of various plant species to overcome dormancy and produce consistent germination.

The leaves are large with three pinnately compound divisions and irregularly toothed leaflets.  Tall plumes of cream to white flowers, on a wand-like raceme, bloom from May to July, often-towering over six feet.  From August to October, seeds develop in capsules and make a rattling sound when they are mature and ready to be harvested. 

Black cohosh prefers a rich, moist, soil that is high in organic matter. In its natural habitat, it is usually found in shaded or partially shaded areas, although it will grow in full sun. Black Cohosh can be grown successfully in raised beds in the woods, in raised beds under an artificial shade structure, or in a method mimicking how it grows in the Regardless of the cultivation system used, it is important to choose a site with well-drained, but moist, soil. Black cohosh has been known to tolerate more light and soil variations than ginseng or goldenseal, provided there is adequate moisture available. Raised beds are highly recommended, especially for clay soils or areas that tend to stay wet after a heavy rain. Make sure sufficient compost or other organic material is added to raise the organic matter content of the soil. Soils with pH of 5 to 6 are ideal for growing black cohosh.  

Black Cohosh seeds are difficult to germinate

Black cohosh seeds must be exposed to a warm/cold/warm cycle before they will germinate. The easiest way to grow plants from seed is to harvest the mature seed in the fall and then sow in the ground immediately, allowing nature to provide the necessary temperature changes. To do this, collect the seed when the capsules have dried and started to split open and the seed "rattle" inside. Plant them 1 ½ to 2 inches apart, approximately ¼ inch deep in shaded, prepared seedbeds. Cover with a one-inch layer of hardwood bark or leaf mulch and keep moist. Some germination may occur the following spring, but most seeds will not emerge until the second spring. To speed up the germination process and improve the germination rate, grower Richo Cech suggests exposing the seeds to warm temperature (70^oF) for two weeks, followed by cold temperature (40^oF) for three months.

Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)

Native Americans used infusions of plants of Cimicifuga racemosa medicinally to stimulate menstruation, to treat rheumatic pains, coughs and colds, constipation, and kidney trouble, to make babies sleep, and to promote milk flow in women (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Actaea racemosa L. var. racemosa occures in Moist, mixed deciduous forests, wooded slopes, ravines, creek margins, thickets, moist meadowlands, forest margins, and especially mountainous terrain in the following states:  Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Md., Mass., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

The map below shows areas where native Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh wildflowers grow wild but they can be planted and will grow over a much wider area than shown.  USDA plant hardiness zones 3 to 8.

Use the chart below for shipping charges on flower seeds, to order copy the order form or email questions, comments & orders to john@easywildflowers.com 
Please email for shipping costs on potted plants

The minimum seed order amount is $10, this can be a combination of different seeds.

Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Magnoliidae
Order Ranunculales
Family Ranunculaceae -- Buttercup family
Genus Actaea L. -- baneberry 
Species Actaea racemosa L. -- black baneberry 
Variety Actaea racemosa L. var. racemosa -- black bugbane 

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Easyliving Wildflowers
PO Box  522
Willow Springs,  Mo.  65793
phone-fax 417-469-2611 

Actaea racemosa L. var. racemosa black bugbane Cimicifuga racemosa Black Cohosh 
plant distribution map complements of USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1
  (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.