Aralia racemosa

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Aralia racemosa
Light:Part Shade Full Shade
Moisture:Mesic
Hardiness:4
Soil pH:5.6-8.4
Height:6'
Width:4'
Blooms:Early Summer
Open Woods Forest
Native to:
Edible Rating:PFAF Edibility RatingPFAF Edibility RatingPFAF Edibility RatingPFAF Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating:PFAF Medicinal RatingPFAF Medicinal RatingPFAF Medicinal RatingPFAF Medicinal Rating
Tea:Yes
Poisonous

Aralia racemosa (common name: american spikenard)

Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame. Stored seed requires 3 - 5 months of cold stratification. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 4 months at 20°c[1]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse for at least their first winter. Once the plants are 25cm or more tall, they can be planted out into their permanent positions, late spring or early summer being the best time to do this.

Root cuttings 8cm long, December in a cold frame[2][3]. Store the roots upside down in sand and pot up in March/April. High percentage[3].

Division of suckers in late winter[2]. Very easy, the suckers can be planted out direct into their permanent positions if required.

Cultivation: An easily grown plant, succeeding in sun or part shade in any fertile soil[4]. Prefers a good deep loam and a semi-shady position[5][6][1]. Requires a sheltered position[5]. Plants are hardier when grown in poorer soils[7].

The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun[K].

Grows well by water[6].

Range: Eastern N. America - Quebec to Georgia, west to Kansas and Minnesota.

Habitat: Rich woodlands and thickets[8][9].

Edibility: Young shoot tips - cooked[10]. Used as a potherb[11] or as a flavouring in soups[12].

Root - cooked. Large and spicy, it is used in soups[9][13][10][14]. Pleasantly aromatic, imparting a liquorice-like flavour[15]. A substitute for sarsaparilla (Smilax spp.)[7], it is also used in making 'root beer'[15].

Fruit - raw or cooked[11]. Pleasant and wholesome to eat[11]. They can be made into a jelly[15][11]. The fruit is about 4mm in diameter[7].

Medicinal: American spikenard is a sweet pungent tonic herb that is often used in modern herbalism where it acts as an alterative[16]. It had a wide range of traditional uses amongst the North American Indians and was at one time widely used as a substitute for the tropical medicinal herb sarsaparilla[17][12].

The root is alterative, diaphoretic, diuretic, pectoral and stimulant[18][8][19][17]. The herb encourages sweating, is stimulating and detoxifying and so is used internally in the treatment of pulmonary diseases, asthma, rheumatism etc[18][20][16][21]. Externally it is used as a poultice in treating rheumatism and skin problems such as eczema[18][20][16][21]. The root is collected in late summer and the autumn and dried for later use[18][20].

A drink made from the pulverised roots is used as a cough treatment[20].

A poultice made from the roots and/or the fruit is applied to sores, burns, itchy skin, ulcers, swellings etc[20][17].

Pollinators: Bees

Notes: We would need to obtain seed but could supply from the same year we got the seed.

Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.

Flower Type: Hermaphrodite

Links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rice, Graham. Growing from Seed Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan, 1988.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bean, William. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Murray, 1981.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sheat, Wilfrid. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. St Martin, 1948.
  4. ↑ Thomas, Graham. Perennial Garden Plants. J. M. Dent & Sons, 1990.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sanders, Thomas. Popular Hardy Perennials. Collingridge, 1926.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lust, John. The Herb Book. Bantam Books, 1983.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lyndon, Merritt. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co, 1950.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Yanovsky, Elias. Food Plants of the North American Indians Publication 237. US Department of Agriculture.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Coffey, Timothy. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File, 1993.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
  13. ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
  14. ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Bown, Deni. Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopaedia of Herbs and Their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Foster, Steven and Billy Tatum. Medicinal Plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.
  19. ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Weiner, Michael. Earth Medicine, Earth Food. Ballantine Books, 1980.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Chevallier, Andrew. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants. Dorling Kindersley, 1996.


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