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.