White Baneberry

Doll’s Eyes or Baneberry
Actaea pachypoda

The compound leaves of baneberry are toothed and pinnate, similar in some ways to black cohosh in appearance. The white flowers appear mid-spring in a dense cluster at the top of a stem. The flowers give way to small berries later in the summer. When fully ripe, each berry is white with a black dot, resembling the ‘eyeball of a doll’. All parts of this native woodland perennial are poisonous, especially those berries!

Most of the photos in the gallery below were taken along the wooded road to Mountain Lake Lodge in Giles County. The “doll’s eye” berry photograph is courtesy of Wikipedia. I haven’t seen that myself yet!