|
Photographer: Dennis W. Woodland
|
Family Araliaceae
Aralia racemosa L.
American spikenard, life-of-man
Aralia: Latinization of an old French-Canadian name aralie which probably came from Iroquois Indian language
racemosa: Latin for "having a raceme" (cluster of flowers each on its own stalk and arranged along a single central stem)
|
|
| Status: | Native |
| Plant: | erect, perennial, 3'-7' tall forb; stems leafy, not bristly |
| Flower: | white, 5-parted; inflorescence of many, rounded umbels in a spreading, branched cluster (compound panicle) up to 12" long; blooms July |
| Fruit: | dark purple, berry-like |
| Leaf: | widely-spreading, sharply and often doubly toothed, the 3 main divisions pinnately-divided |
| Habitat: | shade; woods; in rich soil |
| (Glossary) |
|
