SimplePlant

Araliaceae

Devil's walkingstick

Aralia spinosa L.

Family
Araliaceae
Genus
Aralia

Pet and kid safety: not checked yet. Check pet-safe plants

Devil's walkingstick (Aralia spinosa)
FlowerPhoto: Ken Clark, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist

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Common names

By language (8)
Arabic
أراليا شوكية, شجرة الملاك, عصا هرقل
arz
اراليا شوكيه
Azerbaijani
Tikanlı araliya
Bulgarian
Бодлива аралия
Croatian
Vražji štap
English
Devil's walkingstick, Devil's walking-stick, Angelica-tree, Devil's walking stick, Hercules' club, Prickly ash, Prickly elder
Galician
Aralia
Russian
Аралия колючая

Synonyms

  • Aralia georgica Miq.
  • Aralia leroana K.Koch
  • Aralia spinosa f. subinermis Moldenke
  • Aralia spinosa var. glabra Nutt.
  • Aralia spinosa var. inermis Pursh
  • Aralia spinosa var. subinermis K.Koch
  • Chaerophyllum arborescens L.
  • Myrrhis arborescens Spreng.

Flowers

In flower
July to August (from 203 flowering iNaturalist observations worldwide)
Flower colour
white (USDA PLANTS Database)

Characteristics

Growth habit
Shrub, Tree
Lifespan
Perennial
In the US and Canada
Lower 48 states: native

Toxicity: Slight, as listed by the USDA PLANTS Database (2025-05-29). USDA rates how toxic a plant is to people or livestock; it is not a pet-safety rating, so ask a vet or poison line if a pet or child ate it.

Photos

More in Aralia

Sources: classification, synonyms from World Flora Online Plant List (2026-06, CC0 1.0); common names, popularity from Wikidata (2026-10-26, CC0 1.0); common names, US characteristics from USDA PLANTS Database (2025-05-29, CC0 1.0). About our plant data.