THE HERCULES' CLUB OR SPINED ARALIA 



ONE who is familiar with the appearance of the common herbaceous Spikenard of 

 our woodland borders will easily trace a family resemblance between this plant 

 and the leaves and flowers shown on the plate herewith. Probably the resem- 

 blance is more marked in the pictures than it would be in the specimens, because the leaves 

 and flower-clusters of the Hercules' Club are so large that one is likely to think chiefly of 

 their extraordinary size. The familiar Spikenard is known technically as Aralia racemosa 

 the Racemed Aralia while the Hercules' Club is similarly known as Aralia spinosa 

 the Spined Aralia, a term whose significance is well shown in the picture at the right of 

 the plate. These spines are really formidable and are especially numerous around the 

 nodes that give rise to the great doubly compound leaves. The small picture on the upper 

 left corner of the plate gives a good idea of the general outline of these leaves, but it fails to 

 suggest their enormous size . The distance from the base of the central stalk to the terminal 

 leaflet is often four feet, while the breadth from tip to tip of the side branches is more than 

 half as great. These gigantic leaves appear in the spring as a hairy, bronze green growth 

 that rapidly takes on the shape of the fully-expanded leaves, which finally become dark 

 green on the upper surfaces and light green on the lower surfaces of the leaflets. At the 

 approach of winter they change to a bronzy red color which is commonly more or less 

 suffused with yellow before the leaves drop off. 



The Hercules' Club is indigenous to the Southern States, occurring as far north as 

 Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Missouri, and as far west as Eastern Texas. In this region it 

 often occurs in tree-like form with a height of nearly forty feet and a trunk diameter of 

 eight inches, but in more northern regions it is not hardy, winter killing nearly every year, 

 and is likely to take on the appearance of a number of spiny clubs growing close together 

 as shown on the lower left corner of the plate. The tree is decidedly aromatic, a fact which 

 may have led to the use of the small, round, black berries and the bark of the larger roots 

 for medicinal purposes. The fruit ripens late in summer a few weeks after the flowers 

 have made their belated appearance. 



One who wishes to get the decorative effect of this species in the Northern States 

 can obtain from the nurseries a closely related hardy tree, originally from Manchuria and 

 China the Chinese Angelica tree, known technically as Aralia Chinensis. At least three 

 varieties of this species are now available: of these the variety elata, having few spines 

 upon the bark, is the hardiest and most desirable. 



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