27 September 2025
Good morning.
After it rained on Monday I took a walk just before another rainstorm pelted the neighborhood. All the plants had been washed clean and a garden of bluebeard (Caryopteris sp.) was swarming with bumble and honey bees. Bluebeard is native to Asia but the bees don’t care.
Three days earlier, while birding in Frick Park, I noticed the amazing spikes standing up from the leaflet axils on Japanese angelica (Aralia elata).
A closer look revealed that all the leaf veins had spikes down to the tiniest detail.
How did I know this is the invasive alien Japanese angelica (Aralia elata) instead of the native devil’s walking stick (Aralia spinosa)? I didn’t, but it was a good assumption because of the plant’s location and the fact that even botanists were fooled by Aralia elata for a while.
See the range maps and how to tell the difference in the article below. Good luck!