Manchu Aralia in the photo

The Manchu Aralia is an extremely peculiar and unusual plant, which is found mainly in small groups (less often - singly) in the coniferous and mixed forests of Korea, northern and eastern regions of China, and the Far East. Popularly, this plant is better known as a devil tree, a thorn tree, and even a devil's club.

The Manchu Aralia in the photo has a very modest size: its straight, practically unbranched trunks, which are extremely densely covered with rather large thorns (in fact, that is why the aralia is called a thorn tree), rarely reach a height of three to four meters. Aralia in the photo has rather large leaves (their length can exceed the one meter mark), which are collected at the tops of the shoots. This arrangement of leaves makes this plant vaguely similar to a palm tree and gives it a special charm. Among other things, the leaves of aralia have a very interesting color: in spring they are greenish on top and smoky on the bottom, in summer they turn bright green, and with the arrival of autumn they turn into rich pinkish-purple, sometimes with a light reddish tone. However, people rarely notice all the exotic beauty of the Aralia, being wary of its sharp thorns.

Aralia acquires a special decorative value during the flowering period. The white-cream fragrant flowers of this plant are collected in very large, up to half a meter in diameter, paniculate inflorescences, which are completely crowned with the tops of branches and trunks. The blooming peak of the Manchu Aralia occurs in the last weeks of summer, at which time the tops of the tree become almost completely white.