ARALIACEAE 



211 



ARALIA SPINOSA Linnaeus 



Hercules' Club 



Devil's-Walkingstick 



The Devil's-Walkingstick, fig. 55, is a large, erect shrub 

 up to 20 feet high with stems covered vi^ith tight bark and 

 many strong, straight, or curved spines, which are located 

 mostly at the nodes. The leaves are alternate, bipinnate, and 

 sometimes as much as 4 feet long and 3 feet wide. The petioles 

 may be 10 to 20 inches long, and both they and the midribs are 

 usually beset with prickles. The leaflets are variable in num- 

 ber, but always many, and stand on short stalks. The blades 

 of the leaflets are thin or thick at maturity, ovate, and \]/^ 

 to 31/^ inches long by ^ to 2 inches wide. They are acute or 

 acuminate at the apex and generally rounded to subcordate 

 and asymmetrical at the base. The margin is sharply serrate 

 to entire, and the surface is smooth above and slightly glau- 

 cous and more or less pubescent on the veins beneath. 



The minute, white flowers, which open early in August, are 

 arranged in large compound panicles, so that 10 to 30 flowers 

 stand in umbels at the end of divisions of the panicle. The 

 divisions of the panicle are densely pubescent and provided 



FIG. 55 

 Aralia spinosa 



