Cimicifuga foetida Seeds | Foetid Bugbane
LATIN NAME: Cimicifuga foetida
COMMON NAME: Foetid Bugbane
Plant Profile
Foetid bugbane is the Asian counterpart of black cohosh, and it is a taller, narrower plant with the same architectural habit. It rises one to two metres from a woody rhizome, with deeply divided, dark green leaves and several upright stems, each ending in a long, slender raceme of small white flowers that opens from the base upward over several weeks in summer.
The flowers are crowded with stamens and have a strong, heavy, slightly unpleasant scent, which is where both the Latin and the English names come from. The plant is native to Siberia, Mongolia, northern China and the Himalayas, where it grows in meadows, forest edges and scrubby slopes. In autumn the stems persist with their dry seed heads well into winter, which extends its garden value beyond the flowering season.
Science & Biotechnology
The genus Cimicifuga has been folded into Actaea on molecular evidence, so this plant appears in current checklists as Actaea cimicifuga, while horticultural catalogues and the Chinese pharmacopoeia still use the older name. The change is not trivial, because it groups these tall woodland wands with the baneberries, which are small woodland plants with poisonous red or white berries, and it makes the naming in the literature confusing for a decade or two.
In Chinese medicine the species is one of the sources of Sheng Ma, together with Actaea dahurica, Actaea heracleifolia and Actaea simplex. The rhizome contains cimicifugoside, ferulic acid and related compounds, and it is used in classical formulas for conditions described as fallen or sinking qi, for measles that will not erupt, and for headache and sore throat. It is contraindicated in certain patterns, is not given in pregnancy, and at high doses causes nausea and headache.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden this is a plant for the back of a moist shade border, where its height and its vertical white wands give structure in midsummer. It is best in a group of three or five, since a single stem looks thin, and it combines well with large hostas, ligularias and ferns. The flower spikes are good for cutting and last well in water, though the scent in a closed room is an acquired taste.
The medicinal use belongs to professional practice: the raw rhizome is not a kitchen herb, the dose is narrow, and the plant is one of the classic examples of a species that is safe in trained hands and unwise otherwise. Its main garden virtue is that it flowers in shade and in damp ground, two conditions where tall white flowers are scarce in high summer.
Growing from Seed
Seed is short-lived and should be sown fresh, or stratified cold for eight to twelve weeks. Surface-sow into a moist, humus-rich mix, cover lightly, and keep in shade at about eighteen degrees. Germination is slow and uneven, and older seed may not come up at all, so fresh is much the best.
Grow the seedlings on in deep pots in shade, keeping the compost consistently moist. Plant out in autumn into deep, fertile, reliably moist soil in half shade, and mulch generously. The plant resents both drought and waterlogging, so a site that stays cool and drained is ideal. Divide established clumps in early spring every four or five years if flowering thins.
Our Take
A tall, architectural shade perennial with a serious medicinal pedigree and a smell that keeps it out of small gardens.
Related Reading
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