Wild Sarsaparilla Aralia nudicaulis Ivy/Pennywort/Devil's Club family (Araliaceae)
Wild Sarsaparilla enjoys open but shady forested ground. Plants consist of one tall leaf and one shorter leafless flowering stem that grow from a . The leaf divides into three sections well above the ground and each of these sections has three . Aralia is an old French-Canadian name and nudicaulis means "bare-stemmed." Linnaeus named this species in 1753.
Stemless, with male and female flowers on separate plants (""). Compound leaves with up to 15" long. Margins finely . 20-50 flowers per . 5 petals, , and . White to green petals overlapping. a -like , tipped with .
stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower;
The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.
An umbel is a collection of flowers on short stalks which spread from a common point,
somewhat like umbrella ribs. The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
carpel -- the basic female reproductive organ in flowering plants,
consisting of the stigma, style, and ovary.
serrate -- toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.
style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with
the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.
glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
The botanical term "berry" is different from common usage. Strawberries and raspberries are not berries.
But a tomatoe is. A true berry is a fruit with the seeds immersed in the pulp.
drupe -- A fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a hardened shell containing a seed.
A peach is a drupe. A raspberry is composed of drupelets.
petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.
whorled -- The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 or more leaves along the stems of a plant.
dioecious -- When male and female reproductive structures are on separate plants.
leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.
rhizome -- root-like stems that may either grow horizontally at the
soil surface or in other orientations underground.