Japanese name: タラノキ（楤木） Scientific name:Aralia elata
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 2–5 m tall, found in landslide areas and similar places in hills and mountains.
The trunk branches little and bears many slender prickles.
Young branches are densely covered with grayish-brown hairs, and the leaves are alternate, clustered at the branch tips, and bipinnately compound, 50–100 cm long.
The leaflets are ovate, 5–10 cm long and 3–7 cm wide, with coarse teeth on the margins.
The leaves spread almost horizontally and have coarse hairs on both surfaces.
Slender prickles grow on the petioles and leaf rachises.
The branch tips bear compound inflorescences made up of umbels gathered into a large cone, with many small white flowers.
The inflorescence is 30–50 cm long.
The flowers have 5 petals and produce a large amount of nectar, so insects gather.
The fruit is a spherical berry 3 mm in diameter that ripens black.
[Uses]
The new shoots are eaten as wild vegetables (sansai).
The root bark and stem bark are used as folk medicine.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by division.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
