Aralia spinosa L.

Devil's Walkingstick

Florida native

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An occasional shrub or small tree of hammocks from the panhandle into the central peninsula of Florida. The range extends throughout the southeastern United States west into Texas and Oklahoma, north into the states from Missouri & Illinois to New York and Massachusetts, plus Maine.
Growing up to 10 meters (33 ft.) tall, Devil's Walkingstick has large bi-pinnately (sometimes tri-pinnately) compound leaves. The leaves are alternate, triangular in outline and from .5m -1.5m (1-1/2 to 5 ft.) long. The leaflets are ovate with serrate margins and 3-10cm (1-3/16 to 4 in.) in length. The large inflorescence can be up to 1.2m (4 ft.) long and is made up of numerous tiny white flowers in densely branched clusters. Flowering is in the summer. Fruit is a round dark purple drupe 5-8mm (~1/4 in.) in diameter.
Aralia spinosa shares a common name with Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, which is also called devil's walkingstick, although it is more frequently called Hurcules-club.

Aralia spinosa is a member of the Araliaceae - Ginseng family.

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species

iNaturalist profile for this species

USDA Plant Profile for this species

Date record last modified: Jun 14, 2023