Aralia spinosa
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Aralia spinosa is a kind of the genus Aralia in the family of Araliaceae (Araliaceae). For them, as well as for Zanthoxylum clava-herculis , with which it is not related, the common name Hercules club is used. It is common in the eastern and central United States . It used to be used in many ways in North America and is now used as an ornamental plant.
description
Appearance, wood and leaf
Aralia spinosa grows as a prickly, deciduous, small tree or shrub with heights of 6 to 10, rarely up to 12 meters and trunk diameters of seldom more than 0.1 to 0.15 meters. Stocks are formed with rhizomes ; they also serve for vegetative reproduction .
The wood of Aralia spinosa is light, soft and brittle; it is brown with lighter yellow sapwood . It has a central pith . The shoot axes usually remain unbranched until the first inflorescences are formed. The bark is ash gray to brown. The densely packed spines are robust. The leaves are concentrated in the upper area of young shoot axes, giving the impression of a flat, spreading crown. However, it is not a matter of twigs that produce this effect, but rather it is created by the leaf rhachis . On older shoot axes there are branches with the same appearance as on the main shoot axes. The leaf scars of fallen leaves are always clearly visible on the trunk.
The alternately arranged leaves are 90 to 180 centimeters long and divided into a long petiole and leaf blade. The leaf blade is bipinnate unpaired. The leaf hachis is prickly and thickened at the branches; this leads to the fact that they are sometimes interpreted as branches. The leaflets are usually opposite each other in pairs. The sessile, dark green and blue-green frosted pinnate leaves are egg-shaped with a length of 5.1 to 10.2 centimeters and a width of 3 to 4.1 centimeters with a rounded base, pointed upper end and sawn edge. There are also spines on the leaf veins on the underside of the leaf.
Inflorescence and flower
In terminal, 30 to 46 centimeters long, multi-branched, paniculate total inflorescences, there are many doldy partial inflorescences that contain many flowers. The relatively small, hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . There are five sepals . The five white to creamy white petals are bent back. There is only one circle with five stamens . Five carpels have become an under constant ovary grown. The five styles are usually only fused at their base.
Infructescence and fruit
In late autumn there are many fruits in fruit stands with pink fruiting axes and fruit stalks. The relatively small, juicy, berry-like stone fruits are also sometimes interpreted as berries. The stone fruits are egg-shaped with a length of up to 6.4 millimeters and turn blue or purple-black when ripe. Each stone fruit contains three to five stone-like stone kernels.
ecology
For honey bees and a variety of other insects, Aralia spinosa is a source of pollen and nectar.
The stone fruits are eaten by many wild animals such as bird species, especially the cedar waxwing ( Bombycilla cedrorum ). The stone fruits also provide food for many other fruit and omnivores and even for the American black bear . It is reported that deer species graze on Aralia spinosa .
Occurrence
Aralia spinosa is common in the eastern and central United States . There are localities in the US states of southern Indiana, western New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina , South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Texas.
It thrives in deep, moist soils . The rhizomes make it an invasive plant .
Taxonomy
The first publication of Aralia spinosa took place in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , 1, p. 273.
use
The indigenous peoples and the early settlers of North America used the bark, subterranean parts of plants and stone fruits for a variety of medicinal purposes. The use of the root bark and the fruit as a diuretic is also described.
Aralia spinosa is used as an ornamental plant in parks and gardens in temperate latitudes. The unusual foliage leaves, inflorescences and fruit bunches make the Hercules club an interesting species in garden design. The tendency to spread via rhizomes can have a detrimental effect.
swell
- Kristina Connor: Aralia spinosa l. - devil's walking stick at Wildland Shrubs of the United States and its Territories - full text PDF. (Sections Description, Ecology, Occurrence and Use)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Aralia spinosa in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kristina Connor: Aralia spinosa L. - devil's walking stick at Wildland Shrubs of the United States and its Territories - full text PDF.
- ↑ a b c d e f Klaus Ulrich Leistikow: The Woodbook: The Complete Plates . TASCHEN Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-8365-3603-5 , pp. 310 .
