Aralia spinosa
speciesAt a glance
Sources15 archives
Databases and archives Aralia spinosa's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility8 724 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics7 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Aralia spinosa, commonly known as devil's walking stick, is a woody species of plant in the genus Aralia, family Araliaceae, native to eastern North America. The various names refer to the viciously sharp, spiny stems, petioles, and even leaf midribs. It has also been known as Angelica-tree. This species is sometimes called Hercules' club, prickly ash, or prickly elder, common names it shares with the unrelated Zanthoxylum clava-herculis. For this reason, Aralia spinosa is sometimes confused with that species and mistakenly called the toothache tree, but it does not have the medicinal properties of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis. Aralia spinosa is occasionally cultivated for its exotic, tropical appearance, having large lacy compound leaves. It is closely related to the Asian species Aralia elata, a more commonly cultivated species with which it is easily confused.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology4
Life cycle & reproduction28
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment24
Physiology & chemistry23
Uses & economy15
Other traits7
Compounds documented for Aralia spinosa across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile1 class
Documented compounds3 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| PETROSELINIC-ACID | 711,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| OLEIC-ACID | 102,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aralia spinosa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Aralia spinosa carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 242×CCDB · book-ipcn66 · CCDB · book-atlas-flowering-plants
diploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
How it livedPBDB
Record type8 724 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions75 of 110 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 166 |
| Bronx, US | 79 |
| Chapel Hill, US | 79 |
| Philadelphia, US | 74 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 56 |
| Bangkok, TH | 40 |
| College Park, US | 40 |
| Williamsburg, US | 40 |
| Allentown, US | 34 |
| Bloomington, US | 34 |
| Jackson, US | 23 |
| Miami, US | 21 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 21 |
| GAlocation not on record | 21 |
| Valdosta State Universitylocation not on record | 18 |
| Fayetteville, US | 17 |
| Tuscaloosa, US | 16 |
| Columbia, US | 16 |
| New Haven, US | 16 |
| Appalachian State Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Tampa, US | 13 |
| Durham, US | 13 |
| Henderson State Universitylocation not on record | 13 |
| James F. Matthews Center for Biodiversity Studieslocation not on record | 12 |
| Saint Louis, US | 12 |
| Millersville, US | 11 |
| Western Carolina Universitylocation not on record | 10 |
| University of Southern Mississippilocation not on record | 10 |
| AUAlocation not on record | 9 |
| Knoxville, US | 8 |
| Norfolk, US | 8 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 8 |
| University of Tennessee at Chattanoogalocation not on record | 8 |
| US | 8 |
| Clemson, US | 8 |
| Burlington, US | 8 |
| Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record | 8 |
| Fort Worth, US | 7 |
| Conway, US | 7 |
| Little Rock, US | 7 |
| Mississippi State, US | 7 |
| Cincinnati, US | 7 |
| DOI/NPS, Mississippi National River & Recreation Arealocation not on record | 7 |
| Xiamen, CN | 6 |
| Lord Fairfax Community Collegelocation not on record | 6 |
| Austin, US | 6 |
| Denver, US | 6 |
| Kew, GB | 6 |
| Morgantown, US | 5 |
| Dekalb, US | 5 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 5 |
| Mohonk Preservelocation not on record | 5 |
| China Agricultural Universitylocation not on record | 5 |
| Staten Island, US | 5 |
| Durham, US | 4 |
| DOI/NPS, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Traillocation not on record | 4 |
| Fairfax, US | 4 |
| University of North Carolina at Pembrokelocation not on record | 4 |
| Philadelphia, US | 4 |
| Richmond, US | 4 |
| Edmonton, CA | 3 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 3 |
| Fredericksburg, US | 3 |
| GB | 3 |
| Washington, US | 3 |
| Johnson City, US | 3 |
| BAYLUlocation not on record | 2 |
| Claremont, US | 2 |
| McWane Science Centerlocation not on record | 2 |
| Tall Timbers Research Stationlocation not on record | 2 |
| Audubon Society -- Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuarylocation not on record | 2 |
| Flagstaff, US | 2 |
| Angwin, US | 2 |
| Dover, US | 2 |
| Davenport, US | 2 |
| Oskarshamn, SE | 2 |
| EL PASO, US | 2 |
| Emporia, US | 2 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 2 |
| Conway, US | 2 |
| Kingston, US | 2 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 1 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 1 |
| Long Beach, US | 1 |
| Bourges, FR | 1 |
| Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record | 1 |
| University of Wisconsinlocation not on record | 1 |
| Vancouver, CA | 1 |
| LDlocation not on record | 1 |
| Boise, US | 1 |
| Macomb, US | 1 |
| Lubbock, US | 1 |
| Saint John, CA | 1 |
| Asheville, US | 1 |
| New Brunswick, US | 1 |
| Beijing, CN | 1 |
| Brisbane, AU | 1 |
| DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record | 1 |
| Rotorua, NZ | 1 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Lincoln, US | 1 |
| Universidad de Nariño (UdeNar)location not on record | 1 |
| Spearfish, US | 1 |
| Chadron, US | 1 |
| Springfield, US | 1 |
| Meguro Parasitological Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Barcelona, ES | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin Oshkoshlocation not on record | 1 |
| Canberra, AU | 1 |
| Moscow, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Aralia spinosa was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.