CHAPTER XLIV: THE HERCULES' CLUB 



Family Araliace/^ 

 Genus ARALIA, Linn. 



Fifty genera of aralias compose a great tropical family. The 

 well-known English ivy (genus Hedera) is perhaps the most 

 familiar representative. Of the five native species of aralia 

 the spikenards and sarsaparillas are pretty generally known, 

 having a striking luxuriance of growth and a reputation for 

 medicinal properties. There is a single arborescent species. 

 One tree aralia, the angelica tree of China and Japan, is cultivated 

 in the Northeastern States, where it proves hardy, and our 

 native tree is not. In appearance the two species are much alike, 

 though thornless varieties of the Chinese tree are oftenest met in 

 cultivation. 



Hercules' Club (Aralia spinosa, Linn.) A spreading, 

 aromatic, spiny tree, with club-like branches, 25 to 35 feet high, 

 or an unbranched shrubby cluster of shoots from underground 

 stems, 6 to 1 5 feet high in one season. Bark dark brown, furrowed 

 by wide, shallow cracks between rounded ridges. Wood light, 

 brittle, pale brown, soft. Buds: terminal, large, blunt; lateral, 

 flat, small, triangular. Leaves clustered near top of branch, 3 

 to 4 feet long, i to 2^ feet wide, twice compound, on stout, 

 spiny petioles; leaflets oval, pointed, with toothed margins; 

 yellow in autumn. Flowers white, minute, in many-flowered 

 umbels, forming compound panicles often 3 to 4 feet high 

 above the leaves in midsummer. Fruits few, berry-like, juicy, 

 purplish. Nutlets 5, hard, flattened. Preferred habitat, deep, 

 moist soil near water courses. Distribution, Pennsylvania to 

 southern Missouri, south to Florida and Texas. Uses: 

 Handsome and quick-growing ornamental tree. Berries 

 and fleshy roots have medicinal properties, used in home 

 remedies. 



The Hercules' club certainly earns its name when an under- 



404 



