Aralia spinosa

Aralia spinosa
Aralia spinosa
Clump of Aralia spinosa
Nesmith, South Carolina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Araliaceae
Genus: Aralia
Species: A. spinosa
Binomial name
Aralia spinosa
L.

Aralia spinosa, commonly known as Devil's Walkingstick, is a woody species of plants in the genus Aralia, family Araliaceae, native to eastern North America. The various names refer to the viciously sharp, spiny stems, petioles, and even leaf midribs. It has also been known as Angelica-tree.[1]

This species is sometimes called Hercules' Club, Prickly Ash, or Prickly Elder, common names it shares with the unrelated Zanthoxylum clava-herculis. For this reason, Aralia spinosa is sometimes confused with that species and mistakenly called the Toothache Tree,[2] but it does not have the medicinal properties of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis.

Aralia spinosa is occasionally cultivated for its exotic, tropical appearance, having large lacy compound leaves. It is closely related to the Asian species Aralia elata, a more commonly cultivated species with which it is easily confused.

Contents

Description

Aralia spinosa is an aromatic spiny deciduous shrub or small tree growing 2–8 m (6–25 ft) tall, with a simple or occasionally branched stem with very large bipinnate leaves 70–120 cm (28–48 in) long. The trunks are up to 15–20 cm (6–8 in) in diameter, with the plants umbrella-like in habit with open crowns. The young stems are stout and thickly covered with sharp spines. The plants generally grow in clusters of branchless trunks, although stout wide-spreading branches are occasionally produced.[1]

The flowers are creamy-white, individually small (about 5 mm or 0.2 in across) but produced in large composite panicles 30–60 cm (12–24 in) long; flowering is in the late summer. The fruit is a purplish-black berry 6–8 mm (0.24–0.3 in) in diameter, ripening in the fall. The roots are thick and fleshy.

The doubly or triply compound leaves are the largest of any temperate tree in the continental United States, often about a meter (three feet) long and 60 cm (two feet) wide, with leaflets about 5-8 cm (2-3 in) long. The petioles are prickly, with swollen bases. In the autumn the leaves turn to a peculiar bronze red touched with yellow which makes the tree conspicuous and attractive.[1]

The habit of growth and general appearance of Aralia spinosa and related tree-forming Aralia species are unique. It is usually found as a group of unbranched stems, rising to the height of 3.5–6 m (12–20 ft), which bear upon their summits a crowded cluster of doubly or triply compound leaves, thus giving to each stem a certain tropical palm-like appearance. In the south it is said to reach the height of 15 m (50 ft), still retaining its palm-like aspect. However, further north, the slender, swaying, palm-like appearance is most characteristic of younger plants that have not been damaged by winter storms.[1]

  • Bark: Light brown, divided into rounded broken ridges. Branchlets one-half to two-thirds of an inch in diameter, armed with stout, straight or curved, scattered prickles and nearly encircled by narrow leaf scars. At first light yellow brown, shining and dotted, later light brown.
  • Wood: Brown with yellow streaks; light, soft, brittle, close-grained.
  • Winter buds: Terminal bud chestnut brown, one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, conical, blunt; axillary buds flattened, triangular, one-fourth of an inch in length.
  • Leaves: Clustered at the end of the branches, compound, bi- and tri-pinnate, three to four feet long, two and a half feet broad. The pinnae are unequally pinnate, having five or six pairs of leaflets and a long stalked terminal leaflet; these leaflets are often themselves pinnate. The last leaflets are ovate, two to three inches long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate or dentate, acute; midrib and primary veins prominent. They come out of the bud a bronze green, shining, somewhat hairy; when full grown are dark green above, pale beneath; midribs frequently furnished with prickles. Petioles stout, light brown, eighteen to twenty inches in length, clasping, armed with prickles. Stipules acute, one-half inch long.
  • Flowers: July, August. Perfect or polygamomonoecious, cream white, borne in many-flowered umbels arranged in compound panicles, forming a terminal racemose cluster, three to four feet in length which rises, solitary or two or three together, above the spreading leaves. Bracts and bractlets lanceolate, acute, persistent.
  • Calyx: Calyx tube coherent with the ovary, minutely five-toothed.
  • Corolla: Petals five, white, inserted on margin of the disk, acute, slightly inflexed at the apex, imbricate in bud.
  • Stamens: Five, inserted on margin of the disk, alternate with the petals; filaments thread-like; anthers oblong, attached on the back, introrse, two-celled; cells opening longitudinally.
  • Pistil: Ovary inferior, five-celled; styles five, connivent; stigmas capitate.
  • Fruit: Berry-like drupe, globular, black, one-fourth of an inch long, five-angled, crowned with the blackened styles. Flesh thin, dark.[1]

Distribution and habitat

Aralia spinosa is widespread in the eastern United States, ranging from New York to Florida along the Atlantic coast, and westward to Ohio, Illinois, and Texas.

It prefers a deep moist soil.[1] The plants typically grow in the forest understory or at the edges of forests, often forming clonal thickets by sprouting from the roots.

Uses

The young leaves can be eaten if gathered before the prickles harden. They are chopped finely and cooked as a potherb.

Aralia spinosa was introduced into cultivation in 1688 and is still grown for its decorative foliage, prickly stems, large showy flower panicles, and distinctive fall color. These plants are slow growing, tough and durable, do well in urban settings, but bear numerous prickles on their stems, petioles, and leaflets. These plants can be propagated from seeds or root cuttings.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scriber's Sons. pp. 165–168. 
  2. ^ Kristina Connor. "Aralia spinosa". Wildland Shrubs of the United States and its Territories: Thamnic Descriptions, General Technical Report IITF-WB-1, Edited by John K. Francis. International Institute of Tropical Forestry. http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Aralia%20spinosa.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
  3. ^ Poor, Janet Meakin, and Nancy P. Brewster. 1994. Plants that merit attention Vol 2, Shrubs. Portland, OR: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-347-8 Page 34.

External links

United States Department of Agriculture Web page:


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Aralia spinosa — Hercules club Hercules club, Hercules club Hercules club, Hercules club Hercules clubprop. n. 1. (Bot.) A densely spiny ornamental tree ({Zanthoxylum clava herculis}) of the rue family, growing in southeast U. S. and West Indies. [WordNet sense… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Aralia spinosa — Hercules club Hercules club, Hercules club Hercules club, Hercules club Hercules clubprop. n. 1. (Bot.) A densely spiny ornamental tree ({Zanthoxylum clava herculis}) of the rue family, growing in southeast U. S. and West Indies. [WordNet sense… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Aralia spinosa — dygioji aralija statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Aralijinių šeimos vaistinis nuodingas augalas (Aralia spinosa), paplitęs Šiaurės Amerikoje. atitikmenys: lot. Aralia spinosa angl. American angelica tree; devil s walking stick; Hercules club; …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Aralia spinosa — Toothache Tooth ache , n. (Med.) Pain in a tooth or in the teeth; odontalgia. [1913 Webster] {Toothache grass} (Bot.), a kind of grass ({Ctenium Americanum}) having a very pungent taste. {Toothache tree}. (Bot.) (a) The prickly ash. (b) A shrub… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Aralia spinosa — Angelica An*gel i*ca, n. [NL. See {Angelic}.] (Bot.) 1. An aromatic umbelliferous plant ({Archangelica officinalis} or {Angelica archangelica}) the leaf stalks of which are sometimes candied and used in confectionery, and the roots and seeds as… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Aralia spinosa — ID 5351 Symbol Key ARSP2 Common Name devil s walkingstick Family Araliaceae Category Dicot Division Magnoliophyta US Nativity Native to U.S. US/NA Plant Yes State Distribution AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MO, MS, NC, NJ …   USDA Plant Characteristics

  • Aralia spinosa — noun small deciduous clump forming tree or shrub of eastern United States • Syn: ↑American angelica tree, ↑devil s walking stick, ↑Hercules club • Hypernyms: ↑shrub, ↑bush • Member Holonyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • Aralia spinosa L. — Symbol ARSP2 Common Name devil s walkingstick Botanical Family Araliaceae …   Scientific plant list

  • Aralia (Gattung) — Aralia Aralia cordata Systematik Asteriden Euasteriden II Ordnung …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Aralia — elata Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae …   Wikipedia

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