A shrub or low tree, 8 to 30 feet high. Coarse, stout stems, covered with large prickles. The alternate leaf-scars are narrow and project from the stem and almost encircle it. The bundle-scars are near together and conspicuous. The buds are covered with loose scales and are small for the size of the stems. The white pith in the stems is conspicuous when they are cut.
Among all trees and shrubs the aralia is unique in winter. Its stout, club-like stems, thickly beset with prickles, are so large they never fail to attract attention, and whatever lack of beauty there may be is overlooked owing to their grotesque aspect. In our Northern gardens it is only a shrub, but it invariably arouses curiosity and seems to compel attention more than trees three times its size.
The bark of the root and the berries are occasionally used in medicine as a stimulant.
HERCULES’ CLUB
Aralia spinosa
Page [162]
The meaning of the generic name is unknown. The specific name, spinosa, is the Latin word meaning prickly, and alludes to the stems.
Southward from Pennsylvania this curious, ungainly tree is found growing wild, and as it is hardy in the North it is frequently cultivated in gardens. It is seen at its best in the rich soil of the Big Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. There it grows to be thirty or thirty-five feet high, with wide-spreading branches and a true arborescent habit.
Chapter XIII
THE APPLE TREE, PEAR TREE, MOUNTAIN ASH, CHERRY TREE, AND THE SHAD BUSH
