Black Cohosh - Non-Timber Forest Products

Flowers are hermaphroditic and apetalous, with showy greenish-white
stamens in tufts (Fern 1997–2000, Missouri Botanical Garden 2002).
Flowers, buds, and seedpods are simultaneously borne on a tall arching
raceme, ½ to 2 feet in length, from July through September (Foster and
Duke 2000, Harding 1936, Sievers 1930). The flowers are pollinated by
bees (Apis spp. and Bombus spp.) 2 or flesh flies (Sarcophaga spp.) (Strauch
1995). After the flowers have faded, the seedpods remain on the raceme
throughout the winter. The dry seeds rattle in their pods when disturbed
by wind, making the distinctive noise that is the source for the lesser
used common names for black cohosh of “rattleroot,” “rattle snakeroot,”
“rattletop,” and “rattleweed” (Sievers 1930).
The flowers are said to have an unpleasant odor, a trait of the genus
Cimicifuga (Foster 2000). The name Cimicifuga comes from the Latin
“Cimex,” the genus name for the bed bug, and “fugare,” meaning to put to
flight or repel (Foster 2000, Missouri Botanical Garden 2002). Also known
by the common names “bugbane” or “bugwort,” similar species in Europe
were traditionally used as insect deterrents with leaves or flowers stuffed
into pillows or mattresses (Foster 2000, Harding 1936).
The common name “cohosh” comes from an Algonquian Indian word
meaning “rough,” which describes the dark, hard, and knotted rhizomes that
contain the plant’s medicinal properties (Tetherow 2001). The rhizome is
harvested in early autumn after the flowers have faded to fruit and the leaves
have died back (Grieve 1931, Sievers 1930), then cut into pieces and dried
(Harding 1936). Rhizomes can be divided in the spring to propagate new
plants (Botany.com 2004, Fern 1997–2000).
Black cohosh tolerates a variety of soil types, but prefers rich cove
habitats—cool, well-drained, moist, semishaded woodland locations (Fern
1997–2000, Missouri Botanical Garden 2002). The hardiness range for the
plant is 4A to 10A (Horticopia, Inc. 2001). Black cohosh is found from
southern Ontario to northern Georgia and west to Wisconsin and Arkansas
(Foster and Duke 2000; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources
Conservation Service 2001) (fig. 2). Plants growing in the warmer southern
extent of the range require more shade and water (Blakley and Renaud
1999).
Several thousand populations of black cohosh are estimated to be extant
rangewide—including 100 in Indiana, “hundreds” in Maryland, 750 to
2
Personal communication. 2004. Lorna Lueck, Research Fellow, Medicinal Plant Program,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.
3