Bristly Sarsaparilla

Aralia hispida Vent. Descr. PI. Cels pi. 41. 1801.
Aralia Miihlenbergiana R. & S. Syst. Veg. 6: 704. 1S20.
Plant up to 1 m. in height, the rootstock usually horizontal, stout, giving rise to short subligneous ascending stems, these densely bristly especially near the base with sharp slender spines up to 5 mm. long; leaves bipinnate, the petiole usually shorter than the blade, those of the lower leaves occasionally up to 15 cm. long, with the rachises often spinose, the leaflets oblong to ovate, up to 7 cm. long and 5 cm. broad but usually much smaller, usually obtuse at the base, acute or short acuminate at the apex, irregularly serrate, glabrous or sparsely pilose on the nerves beneath; inflorescences glabrous, terminal, the lower branches sometimes subtended by leaves, the branches few, the bracts lanceolate, up to 10 mm. long, the umbels usually 5-10, the bractlets lanceolate, up to 3 mm. long, the pedicels slender, 15-40 per umbel, up to 20 mm. long; flowers 5-merous, the calyx obconic, 1-2 mm. long, the lobes broadly deltoid, often obtuse or rounded; petals 1.5-2 mm. long; filaments 1-1.5 mm. long, the anthers small; styles about 1 mm. long or less, connate about half their length; fruit 3-5 mm. in diameter.
Type locality: Canada, "depuis Quebec jusqu'a la Baie d'Hudson."
Distribution: Newfoundland and Ontario to North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, and Minnesota.

Aralia hispida, commonly known as the bristly sarsaparilla, is a member of the family Araliaceae. It can be found in eastern North America from Hudson Bay south to Indiana and from Minnesota east to Newfoundland. It prefers dry and sandy soil, and is a perennial that blooms in June and July. It has a rhizome that can overwinter up to 50 centimetres (20 in) above ground. It has ovate to bipinnately compound leaves with 10 centimetres (3.9 in), serrate, ovate to shield-shaped leaflets on short petioles. Fruits are dark and globose.