''Aralia nudicaulis'' (commonly wild sarsaparilla,Dickinson, T.; Metsger, G.; Hull, J.; and Dickinson, R. (2004) The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 140. false sarsaparilla, shot bush, small spikenard, wild liquorice, and rabbit root) is a

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), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the ivy

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 ...

. It is native to northern and eastern North America.

Description

''Aralia nudicaulis'' is a

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 plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

with creeping

underground stem Underground stems are modified plant parts that derive from stem tissue but exist under the soil surface. They function as storage tissues for food and nutrients, facilitate the propagation of new clones, and aid in perennation (survival from one ...

s. In the spring the underground stems produce compound leaves that are large and finely toothed. Tiny white flowers, typically in three, globe-shaped clusters wide, are produced on tall scapes that grow about the same height as the leaves, about high. The flowers bloom from May to July and develop into purple-black edible berries. The leaves go dormant in summer before the fruits ripen. The berries taste a little spicy and sweet. The stem of the plant grows straight up from the ground and divides into a whorl of three pinnately compound leaves with 3 to 7 (most often 5) leaflets arranged on either side of a central stalk. The leaflets are ovate, acute, serrate, and green. Technically, all the leaflets on one plant are considered to be one entire

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

, and the stems that connect the leaflets are called

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

; this arrangement is called doubly compound. In some cases some of the leaflets are further completely subdivided, forming a triply compound pattern.

Similar species

''Aralia nudicaulis'' is similar to '' Aralia hispida'' (Bristly Sarsaparilla), which is a little larger with stems covered with bristly hairs, hence the name. The stems of ''A. nudicaulis'' are smooth. ''Aralia nudicaulis'' is sometimes called fool's sang since it is often confused with American ginseng ('' Panax quinquefolius''), another member of the ivy family (Araliaceae). The two species may be distinguished by their leaves. As described above, ''Aralia nudicaulis'' has pinnately compound leaves while ''Panax quinquefolius'' has palmately compound leaves (with leaflets radiating from a single point). Because it sometimes grows with groups of 3 leaflets, it can be mistaken for

poison ivy Poison ivy is a type of allergenic plant in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' native to Asia and North America. Formerly considered a single species, '' Toxicodendron radicans'', poison ivies are now generally treated as a complex of three separate s ...

. Wild sarsaparilla lacks a woody base and has fine teeth along the edges of the leaves.

Taxonomy

The first scientific name for ''Aralia nudicaulis'' was published by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his landmark ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' in 1753.

Distribution and habitat

This plant is so common in certain ecologies that it is an indicator species for these Eastern forests of North America:

northern hardwood forest The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south-central Canada, Ontario, and Quebec, extending south into the United States in northern New England, New York, and Penns ...

beech–maple forest A beech–maple forest or a maple beech forest is a climax community, climax Mesic habitat, mesic closed canopy hardwood forest. It is primarily composed of American beech and sugar maple trees which co-dominate the forest and which are the pinna ...

, and

oak–hickory forest Oak–hickory forest is a type of North American forest ecosystem, and an ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome. Geography It has a range extending from Rhode Island and southern New York, west to Iowa, and south to Northern ...

.A Field Guide to Eastern Forests; 1988, 1998; John C. Kricher; Easton Press; Houghton Mifflin Company. It is also common in the interior cedar–hemlock forest ecosystem in central and southern British Columbia. File:Aralia nudicaulis 001.jpg, Flowers File:Aralia nudicaulis NRCS-1.jpg, Seeds File:Aralia nudicaulis BB-1913.png, Illustration

Uses

The berry can be eaten but is unexceptional. The roots have been used as substitutes for true sarsaparilla (''

Smilax ''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family (biology), family Smilacaceae, native through ...

'' sp.) in herbal medicine.

References

External links

Connecticut Botanical Society: ''Aralia nudicaulis''

- pictures of leaves, flowers, and fruit for identification {{Taxonbar, from=Q2859483 nudicaulis Flora of Ontario Hardwood forest plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus