Korean angelica tree
Aralia elata · Araliaceae · 두릅나무
How to spot it
Branches have well-developed prickles, hairs and stiff thorns, and the axis of the twice-pinnate leaves is also prickly.
Look
- Leaves
- Odd twice-pinnately compound leaves with prickles on the axis and leaflets. Leaflets are egg-shaped, 5-12 cm long and 2-7 cm wide, with large teeth, and gray beneath with hairs on the veins.
- Flowers
- From late June to late August, white flowers 3 mm across bloom in compound racemes 30-45 cm long; the petals, stamens and styles number five each.
- Fruit
- A berry-like drupe, round, 3 mm across and black, maturing from mid-September to mid-October.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- Found nationwide in Korea, and abroad in Japan, China and the Russian Far East.
- Ecology
- Grows in deep, moist valleys and on north- and northeast-facing mid-slopes. It grows from flatland to over 1,000 m elevation and is strongly cold-hardy.