821 Actaea spicata L. complex

This complex is widely distributed in Eurasia and N. America. The following taxa are mapped separately, viz. A. spicata subsp. spicata, mainly restricted to Europe (an outpost area in the W. C. Asiatic mountains), subsp. erythrocarpa (Fisch.) Hult. in Eurasia (overlapping the range of subsp. spicata considerably), subsp. rubra (Ait.) Hult. in N. America, subsp. arguta (Nutt.) Hult. in western N. America, the two species A. pachypoda Ell. in southeastern N. America and A. acuminata Wallich in the C. and SE. Asiatic mountains (the situation in Japan is evidently uncertain, cf. A. asiatica Hara in Ohwi, Fl. Japan 1965, p. 456). For subspp. spicata and erythrocarpa and A. acuminata, see also Meusel et al. 1965, map p. 154.