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Plant Profile

Tall Bugbane (Cimicifuga elata)

Global Rank: N/A
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Ranunculaceae
State: OR
Nature Serve ID:
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Where is Tall Bugbane (Cimicifuga elata) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Tall Bugbane can be found in Oregon

Which CPC Partners conserve Tall Bugbane (Cimicifuga elata)?

Institute for Applied Ecology

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 05/08/19

Rae Selling Berry Seed Bank & Plant Conservation Program

Not Sponsored

Assigned 11/07/23

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Denise Giles

10/03/2022

While not a rare species, Actaea elata (syn. Cimicifuga elata) proved to be a particularly difficult species to collect from occurrences which match older accessions. Road maintenance, logging and wildfires have resulted in extirpation of many of the populations which matched old accessions of the species. After much searching, and roads blocked by fire and logging activity, a collection was made from a small roadside population near Springfield, Oregon. When in flower, it is easy to find this species, as the panicle consists of many flowers with white-pink colored sepals (no petals). However, when the plant has gone to seed it becomes much more difficult to distinguish the plant from the commonly co-occurring vegetation including, vine maple, hazelnut and even blackberry.

Center for Plant Conservation

12/02/2021

Tall bugbane occurs in forests habitats west of the Cascade Range in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. To maintain viability of the species, an interagency Conservation Strategy calls for monitoring throughout the plant's range on government lands in Oregon and targeted research on population enhancement techniques. Seed germination of this species requires warm stratification for 2 weeks followed by cold tratification for 3 months. Germination in alternating warm temperatures was up to 96%. Plants grown from seed develop well in greenhouse conditions. We planted 50 plants in April 2000 and 43 in Nov. Survival of field transplants was affected by season of planting; 82% of fall transplants survived to Sept 2001 compared to 59% of spring transplants. Herbivoty by deer and mountain beaver was very high. Most plants were damaged to some degree.

Center for Plant Conservation

12/02/2021

Center for Plant Conservation

08/18/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted the Institute for Applied Ecology to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage.