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Kalopanax
Kalopanax septemlobus, common names castor aralia, tree aralia, and prickly castor oil tree, is a deciduous tree in the family Araliaceae, the sole species in the genus Kalopanax. It is native to northeastern Asia, from Sakhalin and Japan west to southwestern China. It is called cìqiū (刺楸) in Chinese, eumnamu (음나무) in Korean, and harigiri (ハリギリ; 針桐) in Japanese.
The tree is cultivated as an ornamental tree for the "tropical" appearance of its large palmate leaves in Europe and North America; despite its tropical looks, it is very hardy, tolerating temperatures down to at least −40 °C (−40 °F). The plant grows very quickly at first, however slowing in growth rate when reaching around 40 years old.
The tree has been found growing wild in several US states, including New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maryland. It is viewed with concern by the US National Park Service and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
In Korea, young shoots, called eumnamu-sun, are often eaten as sukhoe (blanched dish).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Kalopanax by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
