Cimicifuga racemosa isn't a fall blooming plant. It usually blooms now. It's tall, but shorter cultivars wouldn't surprise me.

Cimicifuga (Actaea) racemosa is a late summer blooming plant in my area......I'd be surprised to see it in bloom before mid-August.

I've linked to photos of gooseneck loosestrife - IMO, it is very hard to confuse the two plants. Loosestrife is very uniform in appearance, is in bloom NOW, spreads like greased lightening if happy (why it is so commonly "shared") and only gets about 15-24" tall. Bugbane is much looser in appearance and easily gets twice that height.

Here is a link that might be useful: gooseneck loosestrife

My ND neighbor has a large patch of gooseneck loosestrife and I have Cimicifuga racemosa growing in my own garden. While the flower forms are similar & beloved by bumblebees, the C. racemosa blooms much later where I am in mid- to late fall. I've never really paid attention to when the neighbor's gooseneck loosestrife blooms but a look out my window shows it's not blooming at the moment.

Height-wise, the GL is not nearly as tall as my C. racemosa. The flower spikes on GL are shaped like a goose's head while C. racemosa flower spikes tend to be narrower, longer and don't taper in the same manner as the GL.

Sorry I don't have pics to share but if you Google Images under both plants you might get a clearer picture.

A word of caution--GL can be invasive whereas C. racemosa does not have that propensity.

"Since I don't have a photo storage-I can't post pics here . . . " Actually if you have a digital camera of some kind and device that can connect to the internet, you can upload. You can directly upload from a computer, tablet or smartphone, or you can dump from your digital camera into your computer, and then upload. To put it into this thread use the "choose file" button just below and to the right of the "Post a Follow-Up" option at the bottom of each thread. It is similarly placed for new threads.
In this instance a photo would really help to clarify what plant you are asking about.

Thanks, everyone. The leaf structure is too similar not to be anything else but loosestrife. Darn!. I'm pulling it up tomorrow. Will notify my friend......since she thinks she's got a "great" plant.

C. (or A.) racemosa blooms in July. Simplex, which is what the dark leaved garden cultivars are, blooms in the fall. C. racemosa seeds around a bit for me, which is how I got it in the first place.

I don't mean to hijack the thread...but I have 2 cimifugas which have never bloomed and have barely grown. Any ideas? Thanks.

capecodder - in what conditions (i.e., soil, sun, water) are your two Cimicifugas growing? My own pair are planted in sandy loam, full shade with only whatever water Ma Nature doles out--I've never given them supplemental water. Both plants were purchased a number of years ago via mail order.

As an interesting anecdote, I've learned thanks to mad_gallica's comment above, that I apparently have one each of C. racemosa and C. simplex based on when they bloom.

Hi, My cimifugas are in basically full shade, very sandy soil and I do water when it is very dry here. I also amend the soil every spring with compost and manure. They are between daylilies and hosta that do finel. I really thought it was the soil but all the other surrounding plants are thriving...I did throw on some Osmecote this year.