Aralia racemosa L.

Aralia racemosa L. Sp. PI. 273. 1753
Aralia bicrenala Wooton & Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16: 157. 1913. Aralia arizonica Eastw. Proc. Calif. Acad. IV. 20: 148. 1931.
Branched herb, up to 2 (rarely to 4) m. high, often somewhat woody below ; leaves bipinnate, the lower leaflets often again compound; petioles and rachises slender, glabrous or puberulent, the petioles up to 25 cm. long, the leaflets numerous, petiolulate, the petiolules slender, up to 5 cm. long but usually much shorter, that of the apical leaflet longest, the blades submembranous, ovate, up to 23 cm. long and 16 cm. broad but usually much smaller, usually obliquely cordate at the base, acuminate at the apex, sharply and irregularly serrate (often bicrenate) at the margins (the teeth often mueronulate), essentially glabrous or puberulent, especially along the veins beneath; inflorescences often equaling the leaves in length but usually shorter, copiously branched, the branches and pedicels short-pilose, glabrescent, the bractlets lanceolate, 1-1.5 mm. long, the pedicels 10-25 per umbel, 3-12 mm. long, often swollen at the apex into a membranous minute hirtellous cupule; flowers 5-merous, the calyx cupu'iform, at anthesis about 1 mm. long and broad, the lobes deltoid, apiculate; petals 1-1.5 mm. long, the midnerve obvious, otherwise faintly veined; filaments about 1 mm. long, the anthers small; styles connate at the base, free above; fruit 2-4 mm. in diameter, the persistent stylar column about 1 mm. long.
Type locality: Canada.
Distribution: New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Minnesota, southward and westward to North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua.

Flowering from June to August; fruiting in August and October.

Aralia racemosa is widely distributed in eastern U.S.A. and Canada, westward to South Dakota and North Dakota, south to Georgia and Alabama.

Based on the morphological variation, Wen (1993) provided a generic delimitation of Aralia, in which Aralia racemosa belong to section Aralia.

Perennial herb, 0.6-2.5 m tall with large aromatic roots. Stem pilose, dark purple to greenish purple, with 4-5 leaves; rhizomes thick and horizontal. Leaves ternately compound, spreading, 50-83 cm long, 54-87 cm wide, purple at nodes; stipules narrowly triangular to lanceolate, not leafy, glabrous, ciliate at margin, 1.2-1.5 cm long, 0.4-0.9 cm wide, thick papery; petioles 15-30 cm long, purple; leaflets thin papery, the pair of leaflets below the terminal leaflet ovate, other leaflets ovate to broadly so, 7-20.5 cm long, 4.5-14 cm wide, acute at apex, subcordate to cordate at base, commonly oblique on lateral leaflets, doubly serrate at margin; lateral veins 8-9 on each side, conspicuous on both surfaces, leaflets green, nearly glabrescent on upper surface, pilose on lower surface, petiolules 0-3 cm long, pilose. Inflorescence terminal and axillary, pubescent; axillary inflorescences 6-21 cm long; terminal inflorescence 15-40 cm long, 12-26 cm wide, consisting of numerous umbels, primary inflorescence branches 15-25, racemosely arranged on a main axis, often 3-5 forming a circle on the upper part of the main inflorescence axis, each primary branch 3-14.5 cm long, consisting of 1-10 umbels, with a few lateral umbels bearing no fruits (functionally male umbels); terminal umbels 20-25-flowered, pedicels pubescent, 6-8 mm long, tip enlarged conspicuously at anthesis, somewhat slightly enclosing the base of the hypanthium; lateral umbels 10-20-flowered, pedicels 3-5 mm long; bracts of primary branches linear, more or less pilose, ciliate at margin, 3-5 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide; bracteoles linear, 1.0-1.5 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm wide, ciliate at margin. Sepals triangular, 0.2-0.3 mm long and wide, glabrous, persistent on fruits. Petals ovate, greenish white to white, with a conspicuous vascular bundle in the middle, 1.4-1.6 mm long, 0.9-1.1 mm wide, spreading to recurved at anthesis. Stamens 5, erect at anthesis, filaments 1.3-1.5 mm long, anthers oblong, whitish yellow, 0.4-0.5 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm wide. Ovary 5-locular, styles 0.6-0.7 mm long at anthesis, base of styles more or less enlarged, appearing like a stylopodium. Fruits globose, dark purple to purple, turning dark maroon-red when mature, 4-4.5 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm wide, persistent styles divided to the middle, 1.3-1.5 mm long. Seeds kidney shaped, whitish gray, smooth, 2-2.2 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, 0.2-0.25 mm thick.

There are some reports for the chromosomal data of Aralia racemosa. The counts of number are 2n = 24 (Löve and Löve, 1982). The base chromosome number of Aralia has been suggested to be x = 12 (Wen, 2002, 2004; Yi et al., 2004).

Growing in deciduous forests, wooded slopes, ravines, moist bluffs, riverside forests, creeksides, and streamsides; 200-1500 m.

Lovell (1898) noted that proterandrous dichogamy is strongly developed in Aralia racemosa.

Aromatic roots used in syrup of spikenard, a tonic, or for cough and irritation of the broncho-pulmonary tract.

Aralia racemosa, with common names American spikenard, small spikenard, Indian root, spice berry, spignet, life-of-man, petty morel, is an ornamental plant in the family Araliaceae native to the United States and Canada. It is a herbaceous plant, about 1 to 2 m (3 ft 3 in to 6 ft 7 in) tall, which grows in shady areas. Its native range includes most of the eastern United States.