Devil’s Walkingstick, a Plant of The Family Araliaceae

Range map of Aralia spinosa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Aralia spinosa in winter at the Asheville Botanical Gardens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Taxonomy

     The devil’s walking stick bears the scientific name Aralia spinosa L. It received its name from Carolus Linnaeus, who invented binomial nomenclature.

     The genus Aralia contains several other species. Of special interest is Aralia racemosa, or American spikenard.

     The genus has suffered from the tampering of investigators. Many species that formerly belonged to this genus were transferred to such genera as Fatsia, Schefflera, and Panax. As a result, confusion may arise when reading older literature on the subject. It is possible that further tampering may result in further taxonomical changes in the future.

     Aralia is the type genus of the family Araliaceae. This means that when you want to know the typical characteristics of the family Araliaceae, you should study the species that belong to the genus Aralia.

     In the family Araliaceae, the devil’s walkingstick enjoys the companionship of many other species. Of these, ginseng is the most widely known. American ginseng is Panax quinquefolius. In fact, Araliaceae is sometimes called the ginseng family.

     Another well-known family member is Hedera helix, or English ivy.

Formidable When Young

     Aralia spinosa looks like a stick, especially when young. It takes a long time before it has any branches. Even when it starts to branch, the branches are not numerous.

     When young, Aralia spinosa has formidable prickles on its trunk. It is for this reason that it has been called the devil’s walkingstick. Another common name for this species is Hercules’ club. Strangely, one of its other common names is the angelica tree, according to an article on the U.S. Forest Service website.

     However, Aralia spinosa becomes mellow as it matures. The Duke University website has posted excellent photos of a young Aralia spinosa trunk and a mature one. The mature trunk has a reasonably smooth surface.

     It is interesting to note that another spiny member of the family Araliaceae

also incorporates the evil one in its common name. Oplopanax horridus is popularly known as the devil’s club.

Characteristics

     Aralia spinosa can assume the form of either a shrub or a medium-sized tree. According to the Virginia Tech website, its alternate leaves are bi-pinnately or tri-pinnately compound. The leaflets are fairly large, so a single leaf can take up a lot of space. According to Wikipedia, the larger leaves are three feet long and two feet wide; but other sources claim that they can grow to even greater lengths. Like the leaves of the oak and maple, the leaves of the devil’s walkingstick exhibit fall coloration and fall to the ground before the snow flies.

     The small white flowers form terminal clusters. According to Wikipedia, their corolla has five petals, and the calyx is minutely five-toothed. Its stamens are also five in number.

     The purple or black fruit would probably seem to be berries in the popular mind, but they are actually drupes, according to the Virginia Tech website. A drupe has a single pit inside a fleshy mesocarp and an often thin exocarp covering. A berry generally has many seeds. Grapes and tomatoes are berries.

     Although Aralia spinosa is a flowering plant that produces seeds, it also reproduces asexually. Rhizomes grow laterally under the ground from a devil’s walkingstick plant. From these rhizomes, a new plant can grow.

Range map of Aralia spinosa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     While Aralia spinosa has an exotic appearance, it is native to North America. The map above shows the range of the species in the United States.

References:

Duke: Devil’s-walkingstick

http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/arsp.html

US Forest Service: Aralia spinosa

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/araspi/all.html

Wikipedia: Aralia spinosa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aralia_spinosa

Virginia Tech: Devil’s Walking Stick Araliaceae Aralia spinosa L.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=10

USDA: Aralia spinosa L. devil’ walkingstick

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=arsp2