Home Flora of Missouri
Home
Name Search
Families
Volumes
Aralia spinosa L. Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Species Plantarum 1: 273. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/4/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

Export To PDF Export To Word

3. Aralia spinosa L. (Hercules’ club, devil’s walking stick, tear-blanket)

Pl. 218 c–f; Map 909

Plants shrubs or trees, often forming small colonies. Trunks to 12 m tall, erect or ascending, usually unbranched except for short, spurlike branches, with stout, straight, light brown spines, these often densest in patches or rings below the leaf scars, the bark with shallow furrows and longitudinal plates, dark brown, sometimes with light orangish brown areas along the plates. Leaf scars linear, U-shaped, with several bundle scars in a single row. Leaves alternate, sometimes appearing fascicled along short branches. Leaf blades 60–150 cm long, 2 or 3 times pinnately compound, the ultimate branches with 9–13 leaflets, the leaflets 4–13 cm long, ovate, the margins simply toothed, the upper surface dark green, the undersurface lighter green, often with hairs or minute spines along the midvein. Inflorescences terminal, large, highly branched panicles with numerous umbels, the branches hairy, usually turning red at maturity. Petals 2–3 mm long, white. Fruits 4–6 mm long, black. 2n=24. June–September.

Uncommon in southeastern Missouri north to St. Louis City and County, mostly in the Mississippi Lowlands Division (southeastern U.S. west to Missouri and Texas, introduced farther north). Mesic upland forests, mostly in ravines, ledges of bluffs, and less commonly bottomland forests in sandy soils.

Steyermark was doubtful that this species is native as far north as St. Louis, although specimens from the Allenton area date back to 1885. Harriman (1969) reported a population in a relatively remote portion of a remnant forest in St. Louis County that he considered to be a native occurrence. Plants presently growing in Forest Park in St. Louis also appear to be well integrated into a remnant mesic upland forest community. Thus, the species is accepted as native in this portion of the state.

The unusual spiny trunks, large compound leaves, and red panicles with white flowers and black fruits make A. spinosa an attractive ornamental plant in gardens where there is sufficient space to allow for the suckering of stems. The leaves turn yellow to purplish brown in the autumn. The black fruits with purplish pulp are eaten by birds and other wildlife and have sometimes been used to dye hair black. The relatively soft wood was once used in woodworking to make small items such as pen racks, button boxes, frames for photographs, and small furniture items (Steyermark, 1963). An infusion of the yellow inner bark purportedly was used for toothaches, but the bark and roots cause dermatitis in some individuals.

 
 


 

 
 
© 2024 Missouri Botanical Garden - 4344 Shaw Boulevard - Saint Louis, Missouri 63110