Eleutherococcus spinosus var. japonicus("Okaukogi")
Japanese name: オカウコギ（丘五加木） Scientific name:Eleutherococcus spinosus var. japonicus
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 0.7–1 m tall, found in forests and at forest edges in hilly areas, preferring slightly moist places.
Young branches are hairless.
There are two kinds of branches, long shoots and short shoots, and each node bears a thick, straight, sharp thorn.
The leaves are alternate on long shoots and clustered on short shoots; they are palmately compound, usually with 5 leaflets.
The leaflets are obovate to obovate-oblong, with a shortly pointed tip, coarse, blunt wavy or coarsely notched teeth often mixed with double teeth, and a base that gradually narrows into the leaflet stalk.
Webbed membranes are attached in the vein axils on the underside of the leaves.
The terminal leaflet is 1.5–3 cm long and 1–1.5 cm wide.
The leaf stalk is hairless.
The plant is dioecious.
An inflorescence stalk 2–6 cm long extends from the tip of a short shoot and bears an umbel with many flowers.
Leaves cluster beneath the inflorescence.
The flowers are yellowish green with 5 petals, and the style is 2-lobed.
The fruit is an oblate sphere 0.5 cm in diameter, ripening black and containing 2 seeds.
[Uses]
The young leaves are used as a wild vegetable, and the root bark is used medicinally.
