Thursday, January 11, 2018

Devil's Walking Stick - Aralia spinosa

Araliaceae - Ginseng Family
A Year With the Trees tree No. 11
Devil's Walking Stick
Aralia spinosa

Where to find:  At the Botanical Gardens of Asheville, North Carolinahttp://ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

This tree is the only member of this family, Araliaceae, that is native to the United States and the Southeast. The trees in these photos live at the Asheville Botanical Gardens. www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

These trees are easy to identify this time of the year by the short, sharp spines which are all over the trunk and limbs. You for sure do not want to do much tree hugging with this particular tree; I always save my tree hugging for other trees.

Winter:
buds and twigs, bark, fruit

Devil's Walking Stick Bark

Devil's Walking Stick Bark

Spring:
leaves, flowers, fruit

The shoots of this tree in the spring can be cooked and eaten.
  I hear they taste asparagus like.  




Summer:
leaves, fruit
Devil's Walking Stick, The Botanical Gardens at Asheville.
Devil's Walking Stick, The Botanical Gardens at Asheville.
Devil's Walking Stick in the Summer



Fall
Leaves

Devil's walking stick changing colors

The Devils Walking Stick


The Devil's Walking Stick

What a great tree for Halloween!!! The very name of this tree sounds like a Halloween story waiting to be told.

This tree has short, sharp spines that will hurt your fingers when you touch the stems of this tree. I think that must be why it is called the Devil's walking stick. For who but the devil himself could walk with sharp spines digging into his hands while using a branch of this tree as a walking stick?

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion."
Henry David Thoreau

Happy Halloween


For the love of the trees, Becky

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