Devil's Club

Devil's club is nasty stuff. A member of the ginseng family, it grows near streams here in the PNW. It can grow in large thickets, or as single, isolated plants.

Why is it nasty? The spines on the stem are terrible. The spines break off, and they're just like little slivers of glass. The wounds get infected. They itch, they hurt. Heck, when you cut the stuff down, it even smells bad - an evil, acrid smell.

It is no surprise, then, that the latin taxonomic name for Devil's Club is Oplopanax Horridus. Horrid, indeed.

This particular example is living just outside my bedroom window. Over the past few days, the color has changed, slowly, to a luminescent yellow. It's shaded by a fir tree, it's tucked into the woods a bit, and frankly, although I usually cut the darn stuff down when I spot it, I've left this one for some reason.

It appeals, somehow