Aralia spinosa

Aralia spinosa (Hercules' Club) is a species in the genus Aralia, family Araliaceae, native to southeastern North America. It is a deciduous shrub, growing 2-4 m tall, and has a simple prickle-bearing stem forming an umbrella-like head, with very large bipinnate leaves 70-120 cm long. The flowers are creamy-white, individually small (about 5 mm across) but produced in large composite panicles 30-60 cm long; flowering is in the late summer. The fruit is a black berry 6-8 mm diameter, ripening in the early winter.