Actaea kashmiriana - Kashmir Baneberry

Kashmir Baneberry is a perennial herb with rhizome thick; stems erect, 1-2.2 m tall, upper part glandular velvet-hairy; alternate, 2-3 x pinnate, leaflets 38-50, lower and middle stem leaves long stalked, stalks 10-14 cm long x 1-1.5 cm wide at base, End leaflets are 7-9 cm long x 4-7 cm wide, margin 1-2 sawtoothed. Lateral leaflets are elliptic to elliptic-lanceshaped, 5-9 cm long x 2 4 cm wide. Flowers are borne in panicles, 3-12 branched, frequently densely velvet-hairy on axis, with scattered capitate glandular hairs, racemes drooping. Flower-stalks are 4- 12 mm long, densely velvet-hairy, sepals 4-5, green, cup-shaped, falling off, 5.5 mm long x 5 mm wide. Staminodes are 2, yellow, cup-shaped. frequently crenulate at tip. Stamens are numerous, 8-10 mm long. Kashmir Baneberry is found in forest clearings, by streams and damp meadows at altitudes of 2500-3400 m, from N. Pakistan to W. Himalaya. Flowering: June-August.