Halloween Native plants

This Deadly Plant Has Its Doll’s Eye on You

This week’s show promises to be an emotional one. The Laidback Gardener’s circus of plants will stop at nothing for you, dear spectators, and to continue our Halloween series in style, a local plant will be our star this time.

In this third installment, the mysterious plant you’ll be introduced to may not be as strange as the hydnora, or as fast-moving as the bladderwort, but it’s certainly as dangerous… Not to other plants or insects this time, folks, but to YOU!

Hold back your cries of fright as you take a look at this plant, because… if you can see it, it can see you too! Calling to the stage: Actaea pachypoda!

A job, my goodness, that’s close to perfection! Because, you see, the artificial intelligence that made this poster was asked to feature Actaea pachypoda, and it immediately understood the terrifying aspect of this plant… A character that is well illustrated by its English name, doll’s eye, which translates as “doll’s eyes”.
Photo: leeroy16

He Who Watches Last Will Be Watching Best

Didn’t I promise to be the one to be watched? The fruits of Actaea pachypoda are immaculately white.

In itself, a white fruit is rather unusual. The stigma, a remnant of the spring flower, leaves a black mark on the fruit, simulating the pupil of the eye. To complete the picture, the pedicel, the stem that bears the fruit, is wide and bright red, reminiscent of the eye nerve. Well, I’ll be darned, it looks like a doll’s eye…

In North America, the white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) is found mainly in the eastern and central regions, thriving in woodland environments. Its range extends from southern Canada, including Ontario and Quebec, through the northeastern United States, down to the Appalachian Mountains, and westward to parts of the Midwest. Meanwhile, the red baneberry (Actaea rubra) occupies a broader range, spreading across much of North America, from Alaska and Canada to the northern U.S. It is more common in colder climates and along riparian areas. Both species sometimes overlap, especially in the northern regions.

Red baneberry with white fruits. Photo: wanderingeden

I understand that some members of the audience are gardeners, so you won’t be surprised to learn that there are different subspecies, hybrids, cultivars – in short, plants are a mess! Tomatoes are red, aren’t they? So why are there yellow, pink and purple ones? No doubt another curiosity of the plant world that would make an excellent show, but that’s not today’s topic…

How to Identify Doll’s Eye

Let’s take another look at our white baneberry, shall we? Your stage master offers you the one trick you need to know to identify it, no matter what color its fruit: the pedicels are red.

Are you confused? Because the red cohosh doesn’t have a red pedicel, unlike the white one, which sometimes produces red fruits, although white ones are more frequent, whereas in the red baneberry, it’s red, although white sometimes, because the red and white mix and give red or white, even if it’s white or red…

Do you understand now?

Well… Suffice it to say that the white baneberry is the one with the eyes…! Thus its common name Doll’s eye!

Photo: Sumaid pal Singh Bakshi

A Deadly Ornament

Once you’ve got past the surprise of its fruit, worthy of the best Halloween decorations, comes the real scary fact: this plant is poisonous.

How toxic? Just a few berries are enough to induce a relaxing effect on the human heart muscle. After a certain amount, the heart becomes so relaxed… that it simply stops beating. Asleep in eternal slumber…

Yes, folks, it’s death staring you in the face!

All parts of the plant are toxic, although the “eyes” are the most concentrated in poison.

What may seem strange, you see, is that this dangerous plant is also… a widespread ornamental!

Photo: starowl29

Its spring bloom is a welcome addition to many a shade garden, and delights certain pollen-loving insects. The Doll’s eye flower does not produce nectar. Its visitors are bees, who feed their larvae with pollen, as well as wasps, flies and beetles.

What a strange diet, you may say, this poisonous powder. Oh, but didn’t I tell you that while this plant is terrifying for you and me, insects are immune to this heart poison!

Although the pollen is consumed, the flower produces enough of it to cover the insects and ensure pollination. They end up covered in it during their meal… rather like the young man in the second row, who probably has as much chocolate around his mouth as in his belly…

Birds are not to be outdone, as they are insensitive to our star’s toxins and feast on its fruit. Add to this its local origin, and the baneberry becomes an (almost) perfect candidate to adorn a garden.

But just watch each other, without consuming it… Although…

Traditional Medicine at a Glance

Do you know the saying “you have to suffer in order to be beautiful”? I know what you’re thinking, dear audience: your stage master must have had her share of suffering to be so sublime… But that’s not the point!

I’d like to propose a new version: “You have to suffer to heal”. Or “treat evil with evil”, why not? The fact is that sometimes, when an evil dwells within us, poisoning it is a way of getting rid of it, even if it means poisoning ourselves a little in the process.

As white baneberry’s fruit is highly toxic, this is not the part that was used by many First Nations peoples to treat various ailments. Colds, itching and even convulsions were conditions for which an infusion of white baneberry root could be prescribed.

Photo: Oner Mopos

While no studies have examined the efficacy of this treatment, several have highlighted the virtues of similar plants used in traditional Indian and Chinese medicine to reduce menopausal symptoms.

Beware!

May I humbly suggest that you avoid this plant? Other non-toxic plants with proven efficacy are certainly safer and just as effective. Herbal medicine is a wonderful thing, both modern and traditional, bringing us closer to nature…

… But the circus nurse has had enough of poisoning cases, so please be responsible!

If you can’t identify the plants, buy them from an herbalist, and if you can, don’t eat anything that’s watching you! With the exception of the delights sold in our fabulous circus, of course! Today only, two for one on the chocolate eyes sold in the exit kiosk!

That’s all for our special issue on native flora, but come back next week for another curiosity from the plant world: a real enigma is brewing! But until then, be careful, and keep your eyes peeled: you never know who’s watching you…

Audrey Martel is a biologist who graduated from the University of Montreal. After more than ten years in the field of scientific animation, notably for Parks Canada and the Granby Zoo, she joined Nature Conservancy of Canada to take up new challenges in scientific writing. She then moved into marketing and joined Leo Studio. Full of life and always up for a giggle, or the discovery of a new edible plant, she never abandoned her love for nature and writes articles for both Nature sauvage and the Laidback Gardener.

3 comments on “This Deadly Plant Has Its Doll’s Eye on You

  1. Love the AI image (not often I say that). I’ve not heard of this plant before, so thanks for this creepy autumnal treat

  2. Suzanne Gibson

    Oooh, I’m creeped out for the day! I’ve often seen these plants but didn’t know anything about them. Thank you.

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