_Actaea alba_
_Flowers_--Small, white, in a terminal oblong raceme. Calyx of 3 to 5
petal-like, early-falling sepals; petals very small, 4 to 10, spatulate,
clawed; stamens white, numerous, longer than petals; 1 pistil with a
broad stigma. _Stem:_ Erect, bushy, 1 to 2 ft. high. _Leaves:_ Twice or
thrice compounded of sharply toothed and pointed, sometimes lobed,
leaflets, petioled. _Fruit:_ Clusters of poisonous oval white berries
with dark purple spot on end, formed from the pistils. Both pedicels and
peduncles much thickened and often red after fruiting.
_Preferred Habitat_--Cool, shady, moist woods.
_Flowering Season_--April-June.
_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to Georgia and far West.
However insignificant the short fuzzy clusters of flowers lifted by this
bushy little plant, we cannot fail to name it after it has set those
curious white berries with a dark spot on the end, which Mrs. Starr Dana
graphically compares to “the china eyes that small children occasionally
manage to gouge from their dolls’ heads.” For generations they have been
called “dolls’ eyes” in Massachusetts. Especially after these poisonous
berries fully ripen and the rigid stems which bear them thicken and
redden, we cannot fail to notice them. As the sepals fall early, the
white stamens and stigmas are the most conspicuous parts of the flowers.