''Aralia'' , or spikenard, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

, consisting of 68 accepted

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s, and

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

s. The genus is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to Asia and the Americas, with most species occurring in mountain woodlands. ''Aralia'' plants vary in size, with some herbaceous species only reaching tall, while some are trees growing to tall. ''Aralia'' plants have large bipinnate (doubly compound) leaves clustered at the ends of their stems or branches; in some species the leaves are covered with bristles. The stems of some woody species are quite prickly, as in ''

Aralia spinosa ''Aralia spinosa'', commonly known as devil's walking stick, is a woody species of plant in the genus ''Aralia'' of the family Araliaceae. It is native to eastern North America. The various names refer to the viciously sharp, spiny stems, petiole ...

''. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are whitish or greenish occurring in terminal

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s, and the spherical dark purple berry-like

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s are popular with

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s. ''Aralia'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species, including the

common emerald The common emerald (''Hemithea aestivaria'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species is found throughout the Nearctic and Palearctic regions and the Near East. It is mostly commonly found in the southern half of the Ireland and Britain. ...

(''Hemithea aestivaria''). There are many colours of aralia flowers. The main flower is whitish aralia. Some species, notably ''Aralia cordata'', are edible and are cultivated for human consumption.

Taxonomy

The taxonomic circumscription of the

''Aralia'' has varied greatly. Species formerly included in wider views of the genus are now included in such separate genera as ''Fatsia'', ''Macropanax'', ''Oreopanax'', ''Panax'', ''Polyscias'', ''Pseudopanax'', ''Schefflera'', and ''Tetrapanax''. The genus ''Dimorphanthus'', formerly considered distinct by some, is now included within ''Aralia'' as a section within that genus.

Species

, Plants of the World Online accepted the following species: *''Aralia apioides'' Hand.-Mazz. *''Aralia armata'' (Wall. ex G.Don) Seem. *''Aralia atropurpurea'' Franch. *''Aralia bahiana'' J.Wen *''Aralia bicrenata'' Wooton & Standl. *''Aralia bipinnata'' Blanco *''Aralia cachemirica'' Decne. *''Aralia caesia'' Hand.-Mazz. *''Aralia californica'' S.Watson *''Aralia castanopsicola'' (Hayata) J.Wen *''Aralia chinensis'' L. *''Aralia continentalis'' Kitag. *''Aralia cordata'' Thunb. *''Aralia dasyphylla'' Miq. *''Aralia dasyphylloides'' (Hand.-Mazz.) J.Wen *''Aralia debilis'' J.Wen *''Aralia decaisneana'' Hance *''Aralia delavayi'' J.Wen *''Aralia devendrae'' Pusalkar *''Aralia duplex'' R.Chaves *''Aralia echinocaulis'' Hand.-Mazz. *''Aralia elata'' (Miq.) Seem. *''Aralia excelsa'' (Griseb.) J.Wen *''Aralia fargesii'' Franch. *''Aralia ferox'' Miq. *''Aralia finlaysoniana'' (Wall. ex G.Don) Seem. *''Aralia foliolosa'' Seem. ex C.B.Clarke *''Aralia frodiniana'' J.Wen *''Aralia gigantea'' J.Wen *''Aralia gintungensis'' C.Y.Wu ex K.M.Feng *''Aralia glabra'' Matsum. *''Aralia glabrifoliolata'' (C.B.Shang) J.Wen *''Aralia henryi'' Harms *''Aralia hiepiana'' J.Wen & Lowry *''Aralia hispida'' Vent. *''Aralia humilis'' Cav. *''Aralia hypoglauca'' (C.J.Qi & T.R.Cao) J.Wen & Y.F.Deng *''Aralia indonesica'' Doweld *''Aralia kansuensis'' G.Hoo *''Aralia kingdon-wardii'' J.Wen, Lowry & Esser *''Aralia leschenaultii'' (DC.) J.Wen *''Aralia malabarica'' Bedd. *''Aralia melanocarpa'' (H.Lév.) Lauener *''Aralia merrillii'' C.B.Shang *''Aralia mexicana'' (C.B.Shang & X.P.Li) Frodin *''Aralia montana'' Blume *''Aralia nudicaulis'' L. *''Aralia officinalis'' Z.Z.Wang *''Aralia parasitica'' (D.Don) Buch.-Ham. ex Otto *''Aralia plumosa'' H.L.Li *''Aralia racemosa'' L. *''Aralia regeliana'' Marchal *''Aralia rex'' (Ekman) J.Wen *''Aralia scaberula'' G.Hoo *''Aralia scopulorum'' Brandegee *''Aralia searelliana'' Dunn *''Aralia soratensis'' Marchal *''Aralia spinifolia'' Merr. *''

'' L. *''Aralia stellata'' (King) J.Wen *''Aralia stipulata'' Franch. *''Aralia subcordata'' (Wall. ex G.Don) J.Wen *''Aralia thomsonii'' Seem. ex C.B.Clarke *''Aralia tibetana'' G.Hoo *''Aralia tomentella'' Franch. *''Aralia undulata'' Hand.-Mazz. *''Aralia urticifolia'' Blume ex Miq. *''Aralia verticillata'' (Dunn) J.Wen *''Aralia vietnamensis'' Ha *''Aralia wangshanensis'' (W.C.Cheng) Y.F.Deng *''Aralia warmingiana'' (Marchal) J.Wen *''Aralia wilsonii'' Harms *''Aralia yunnanensis'' Franch.

Fossil record

One fossil endocarp of †''Aralia pusilla'' has been described from a middle Miocene stratum of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark. Several fossil fruits of ''Aralia rugosa'' and †''Aralia tertiaria'' have been extracted from bore hole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland. Several ''Aralia'' macrofossils have been recovered from the late Zanclean stage of Pliocene sites in Pocapaglia, Italy.Messian to Zanclean vegetation and climate of Northern and Central Italy by Adele Bertini & Edoardo Martinetto, Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 47 (2), 2008, 105-121. Modena, 11 July 2008.

Notes

References

*Frodin, D. G. and R. Govaerts. 2003. World Checklist and Bibliography of Araliaceae. Kew, UK: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. *Wen, J. 2004. Systematics and biogeography of ''Aralia'' L. sect. ''Dimorphanthus'' (Miq.) Miq. (Araliaceae). ''Cathaya'' 15-16: 1–187.

External links

Sorting ''Aralia'' names
{{Authority control Aralia, Apiales genera