The genus Aralia Linnaeus contains over 50 species, but only three inhabit the Russian Far East: Aralia elata, which is a woody plant; and A. cordata and A. continentalis are perennial grass plants.

Aralia elata is a small tree, with either few or no branches, that generally attains heights of 2-4 m and diameters from 5-10 cm, but under favorable conditions it may grow to 12 m and 30 cm diameter. The bark us gray and finely wrinkled, and in old trees laminates in small narrow strips. The shoots are covered with numerous thorns up to 1.5 cm long. The leaves are large, up to 1.5 m long and over 1 m wide, and arranged alternately; they are two-fold, less often three-fold penniform, green and naked on their upper surface, light dove color and with downy bristles below. The petioles are green or greenish-brown, and up to 1.5 cm in diameter. The flowers are small, bisexual, and staminate; they cluster in large (up to 60 cm wide) paniculate inflorescences. The fruits are black, spherical, and up to 6 mm in diameter, containing five light-brown seeds, 2-3 mm long and up to 1 mm wide. The leaves unfurl in May; the plants blossom from late July to early September; and the fruits open in October.

Aralia elata is found in northeast China, Korea, and Japan. In Russia, it occurs in he southern continental part of the Far East, southern Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands (Kunashir and Shikotan). The southernmost Russian locality is Furugelm Island in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan. In the continental part of the Russian Far East, A. elata grows either singly or in groups in the underbrush of mixed coniferous forests, and along clearings and forest margins and cliffs. Its root system produces abundant sprouts recruitment following burned-out forests to form impassable thickets together with Eleutherococcus, maple, grapes, and Schizandra. In mountainous regions it is found at elevations as great as 700 m above sea level.

The Aralia that grows in the continental part of the Russian Far East had until recently been called A. mandshurica; however, most botanists have regarded its morphological distinctions from those of the insular species A. elata to be not so significant as to isolate it into a separate species. For that reason, both forms are combined at the present time under the name A. elata.

Aralia elata is widely utilized. It possesses excellent decorative properties, it is pollution resistant, and a superb nectariferous plant. In the Russian Far East, its young shoots and leaves are used as food and to make cosmetics, but it is most widely known as a valuable medicinal plant. Its preparations produce a stimulatory effect on the central nervous system and possess adaptogenic, antisclerotic and gonadotropic properties. Russia's medical industry manufactures Saparal, a preparation that contains aralosides and issued as a tonic in physical and mental fatigue, neurasthenia, and asthenia and depression.

In nature, A. elata reproduces with its root shoots, and much less often with its seeds. Seed reproduction is used primarily in culture. To that end, stratification of seeds involving gibberellin is used with the following subsequent conditions: one month at 18ºC and five months at 3-4ºC; 87% of the seeds germinate. In some cases, vegetative multiplication by root cutting may produce 50-60% success.

List of illustrations:

Fig. 3.1. Leaf and crown shapes in Aralia elata.

Fig. 3.2. Shoot structure of Aralia elata: 1. Apical bud; 2. Lateral bud; 3. Leaf cushion; 4. Thorns; 5. Leaf scar; 6. Leaf trace; 7. Lenticel.

Fig. 3.3. Blossoming phases of bisexual flowers of Aralia elata.

Fig. 3.4. Geographic distribution of Aralia elata.