Five-Fingered Aralia (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus (Makino) Koidz.)
Also known as fiveleaf aralia; also classified as Eleutherococcus pentaphyllus (Siebold & Zucc.) Nakai, Acanthopanax sieboldianus Makino, Acanthopanax pentaphyllus Marchal, Aralia pentaphylla Siebold & Zucc.
↑Summary
A shrub native to China, occasionally planted in the US, and when it does, often escaping and becoming invasive.
↑Range - Expand
Legend | Color |
Introduced | |
Introduced or Not Present |
This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.
This species has also been introduced in Ontario, but we have not yet built the portion of its range map in Canada.
↑Similar Plants
↑Notes
This species is sometimes referred to as a "ginseng" but this common name is misleading as it is not a true ginseng (Panax sp.); not only is this usage misleading with respect to plant taxonomy, but it also has different medicinal properties when used in traditional Chinese medicine. For these reasons we avoid referring to members of the Eleutherococcus genus as "ginseng" and prefer other common names.
↑Links & External Resources
• Eleutherococcus pentaphyllus (ginseng) | USDA PLANTS Database (About This Site)
• Eleutherococcus pentaphyllus | Go Botany (About This Site)
• Eleutherococcus pentaphyllus (ginseng) | CABI Invasive Species Compendium (About This Site)
• Eleutherococcus sieboldianus | Biota of North America Project (BONAP) (About This Site)
• Acanthopanax sieboldianus | NatureServe Explorer (About This Site)
• Five-leaf Aralia | Maryland Biodiversity Project (About This Site)
• Eleutherococcus sieboldianus (Makino) Koidz. (Five-leaf Aralia) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)