Tree · Araliaceae
Devil's walkingstick
Aralia spinosa
Devil's walkingstick is recorded as native to 21 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 655 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Devil's walkingstick at a glance
- Native in
- 655 counties, across 21 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −25°F
- Mature height
- 20 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −25°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Devil's walkingstick is recorded as native to 21 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 655 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 655 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 60 counties
- Arkansas 58 counties
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 28 counties
- Georgia 29 counties
- Illinois 14 counties
- Indiana 18 counties
- Kentucky 58 counties
- Louisiana 45 counties
- Mississippi 24 counties
- Missouri 11 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- North Carolina 40 counties
- Ohio 22 counties
- Pennsylvania 40 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- Tennessee 39 counties
- Texas 18 counties
- Virginia 76 counties
- West Virginia 31 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 20 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 6.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 30 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −25°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Araliaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ARSP2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Aralia spinosa (PLANTS symbol ARSP2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources