Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

Leaves are VERY large and bi- or tripinnately compound, alternate, toothed, and deciduous with spiny petioles and a spiny rachis.  Twigs are stout with sharp prickles surrounding U-shaped leaf scars.  Bark is brown and rough.  Flowers are showy with a green-white hue and very noticeable in summer.  Fruit is a black juicy drupe.  Devil's walking-stick appears as a giant barbed stick or walking cane on a range of sites in the southeastern U.S. and is intolerant of shade.  It can form thickets.  The fruit is eaten by birds.

Click on photo to enlarge.       

All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan.