Cimicifuga dahurica

Actaea or Cicimifuga dahurica is a botanical silver candle, rare in cultivation, quite similar in appearance to the Cimicigua racemosa, another species much better known to gardeners as baneberry. It is a very beautiful perennial of clear and fresh understory, both majestic in its habit, luxuriant in its foliage, and poetic in its luminous flowering in tall, slender, and branched spikes. It blooms in late summer, well above a tuft of deeply cut leaves, reminiscent of a giant Astilbe. Vigorous and hardy, this plant establishes itself slowly, but for many years. Give it a good place at the back of a border, always in partial shade and in moist soil.

Cicimifuga (formerly Actaea) dahurica is a plant of the buttercup family native to temperate Asia (Korea, Mongolia, Siberia, northern China). In the wild, it is found in thickets, forests, and high-altitude meadows, up to 1200m (3937ft). This species differs from the native North American Cimicifuga racemosa mainly in the shape of its cordate-based leaves. It is a deciduous perennial herbaceous plant, with above-ground foliage disappearing in winter. Developing from a knotty rhizome with fibrous roots arranged in compact masses, this plant slowly forms bushy clumps reaching 1m (3ft) in height for the foliage, and sometimes 2m (7ft) in flower (on average 1.75m (6ft)), with a minimum spread of 70cm. Its stems are covered with large triangular leaves, divided into 3 toothed lobes, sometimes up to 50cm (20in) long including the petiole. They are adorned with a dark green colour, sometimes tinged with purple-grey. Flowering usually starts in August, in the form of numerous large terminal and branched inflorescences in slender creamy-white spikes, upright or slightly arched, composed of tiny powder-covered flowers with indescribable fragrance. This flowering is highly attractive to bees and nectar-feeding insects, but its fragrance is not appreciated by everyone. In this baneberry species, there are both female and male plants, the latter displaying a more decorative flowering. The specific name of this plant, dahurica, refers to the eponymous region located between southeastern Siberia and northeastern Mongolia.

The Dahurian Baneberry will thrive in partial shade, in the dappled light of a clear understory or at the edge of a forest. This species tolerates the competition of tree and shrub roots quite well, as long as the soil does not dry out too much in summer. At the back of borders, its very graphic silhouette and bright flowers will create a beautiful backdrop for perennials that have finished flowering in late summer. Whether placed as an individual specimen or in small groups of 3, a background of dark foliage (conifers, holly, boxwood, osmanthus) will enhance its "silver candle" flowers. For example, you can associate it with partial shade perennial geraniums (Geranium nodosum, G. cantabrigiense, G. macrorrhizum...). This majestic plant will also make a beautiful subject when planted in a large pot on the terrace.