Five-fingered aralia, or fiveleaf aralia, is a prickly shrub from China that American gardeners plant for hedges, screens, and barriers, even in shade and dry city spots. Each leaf has five to seven small leaflets spread out like a hand.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A deciduous shrub 8–10 ft (2.4–3 m) tall and wide, with long stems that arch outward and down at the tips.
- Leaves
- Alternate, palmately compound leaves with five to seven leaflets, each 1–2.5 in (2.5–6 cm) long, on a stalk 1–3 in (2.5–7.5 cm) long. Bright green in summer; fall color is usually a weak yellow.
- Flowers
- Plants are usually either male or female. Tiny greenish-white flowers open in late spring in small round clusters on slender stalks; they aren't showy.
- Fruit
- Small, shiny black berries, usually not many.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Gardens
- Hedges
- Parks
- Range
- Native to Anhui Province in China. It has been introduced to Korea, Japan, and the United States, where it is listed as introduced and appears on some invasive-plant lists in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in full sun to full shade and tolerates many soils, drought, and dry urban conditions. Hardy to USDA zone 4.
- Flowering
Flowers May
Flowers May
Growing it
- Care
- One or two sharp prickles sit at the base of each leaf stalk, which makes it a good barrier hedge but awkward to prune. A variegated form with broad creamy white leaflet edges grows to about 8 ft (2.4 m).
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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