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Oplopanax horridus
Also called Devilsclub, Devil's Walking Stick, Devil’s Club
Devil's club is a large, spiny understory shrub of the Pacific Northwest rainforests, also found in disjunct populations on Lake Superior islands. It is grown mainly as a wild or forest plant rather than a garden ornamental, and it is slow growing and hard to establish.
Devil's club or Devil's walking stick (Oplopanax horridus, Araliaceae; syn. Echinopanax horridus, Fatsia horrida) is a large understory shrub native to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, but also disjunct on islands in Lake Superior. It is noted for its large palmate leaves and erect, woody stems covered in noxious and irritating spines. It is also known as Alaskan ginseng and similar names, although it is not a true ginseng. In Tlingit it is known as S’áxt’.
The berry is inedible to humans. Touching the spiny plant may cause irritation.
This species usually grows in moist, dense forest habitats, and is most abundant in old-growth conifer forests in the Pacific Northwest. It is found from southcentral Alaska south to Oregon, and eastward to western Alberta and Montana. Disjunct native populations also occur over 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) away in Lake Superior on Isle Royale and Passage Island, Michigan and Porphyry Island and Slate Island, Ontario.
Traditionally, the charcoal from the stalks is still used to make ceremonial and protective face paints, and among the Ditidaht and neighboring groups, it was equally significant to red ochre as a symbolic link to the spirit world. Indigenous peoples such as the Tlingit and Haida have used the plant as traditional medicine for ailments such as adult-onset diabetes, as well as rheumatoid arthritis.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Devil's club by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
