BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Aralia nudicaulis | Wild Sarsaparilla 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Wild sarsaparilla is a native, dioecious, perennial forb [36,39].  It
has long rhizomes that are between 1.2 and 4.7 inches (3-12 cm) deep in
the mineral soil, with an average depth of 2.4 inches (6 cm) [42].  Wild
sarsaparilla is acaulescent; vegetative shoots may be up to 27.6 inches
(70 cm) tall with two to three compound leaves [34,36,54].  Reproductive
shoots are shorter with two to seven umbels [39].  There is an average
of five seeds per fruit [10,48].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Wild sarsaparilla forms extensive colonies by vegetative reproduction
[11,116].  Its rhizomes branch and can produce ramets up to 39 inches (1
m) from the original plant [23].

An exclusion experiment showed that wild sarsaparilla was dependent on
insects such as bumblebees, solitary bees, and syrphids for pollination.
Germination rates with or without stratification are low (34 percent)
[17].  Seedling establishment probably occurs rarely and is dependent on
major disturbances [36].  Wild sarsaparilla seedbanks under canopies of
stands aged 3 to 75 years since disturbance yielded 28 seeds that had 18
percent germination [3].  Wild sarsaparilla seed rain and seedbank were
measured following canopy removal of mature northern hardwood forest in
north-central New Hampshire.  One year after harvest, 1.3 wild
sarsaparilla seeds germinated from soil samples; no fruits were
collected in seedtraps during 2 years of sampling [62].

Seeds are disseminated by animals such as birds and black bears [73,91].
While 61 percent of the flowers in a wild sarsaparilla population in New
Brunswick set fruit, 95 percent of the fruits were consumed [10].
Germination rates for wild sarsaparilla seeds taken from black bear scat
(62-93 percent) were significantly (p<0.01) higher than for uneaten
seeds (27-28 percent) [105].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Wild sarsaparilla has a relatively wide ecological amplitude [112].  It
is common in moist or dry woodlands, thickets, riparian areas, and
prairie or bog edges [22,29,39,76,84,110].  It may occur on sand plains
or dunes, rocky ridges, and canyon sides [55,126].

Wild sarsaparilla is found in continental climates that are subhumid to
humid and may be influenced by maritime air masses [7,47,93,100,101].
Winters are long and cool to cold; summers are short and warm [4,9].
Moderate amounts of precipitation occur throughout its range, varying
from 16.1 to 65 inches (409-1,650 mm) [7,64].

Wild sarsaparilla is found on all aspects and slopes [24].  Textures of
the soils on which it occurs range from fine loamy clay to coarse loam
[4,42,67,70].  Soils are moderate to rich in nutrients [18,35,112].
Sites are poorly drained to well drained [35].  Wild sarsaparilla occurs
at low to mid-elevations (2,500 to 4,700 feet [760-1,433 m]) in Montana
and Idaho and up to 8,000 feet (2,438 m) in Colorado [24,53,81,102].  In
the northeastern United States, it is found at elevations ranging from
680 to 2,995 feet (198-913 m) [40].

Species commonly associated with wild sarsaparilla are broadleaf arnica
(Arnica latifolia), bigleaf aster (Aster macrophyllus), bunchberry
(Cornus canadensis), queencup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora), and Canada
mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) [53,61,99,101].  Often, oakfern
(Gymnocarpium dryopteris) and bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) are
found with wild sarsaparilla [9,24].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Wild sarsaparilla is shade tolerant [75].  In mixed-hardwood stands in
New Brunswick aged 7 to 37 years, wild sarsaparilla frequency increased
with stand age [85].  Wild sarsaparilla was distributed at three plants
per 269 square feet (3 plants/25 sq m) in a 20-year-old eastern white
pine (Pinus strobus) stand in Vermont [60].  In a spruce-fir stand in
Maine where trees averaged 60 or more years old, wild sarsaparilla
occurred with 21 percent frequency on plots [32].

Wild sarsaparilla is a characteristic forb of a wide range of climax
forests [25,49].  It occurred in plots with differing amounts of canopy
closure in late successional stands of western hemlock-western redcedar
stands in northern Idaho [92].  The frequency of wild sarsaparilla
varied across western hemlock-western redcedar stands aged less than 50
years to more than 400 years old [50,51].  In old-growth (200-560 years)
eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in northwestern Pennsylvania, wild
sarsaparilla frequency averaged 2 percent in plots [59].  In older seral
to climax stages of sugar maple-basswood stands aged 100 to 165 years,
wild sarsaparilla had 1 to 3 percent cover measured over 7 years [69].
However, in an old-growth eastern hemlock-northern hardwoods forest in
Michigan, frequency of wild sarsaparilla was higher in treefall gaps
(4.4 percent) than under closed canopy (2.2 percent) [91].  On sand
dunes at Lake Michigan, Michigan, wild sarsaparilla was only present
under black oak (Quercus velutina) on older, stabilized dunes, aged 600
to 1,100 years [98].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Wild sarsaparilla emerges from leaf litter by mid-April or May, and
leaves expand before the canopy closes [23,30].  It flowers from May to
July throughout its range [76,110,120].  Fruits mature in about 32 days
[56].  Leaves begin to drop by mid-September.  Wild sarsaparilla is
dormant during the winter [30].

Related categories for Species: Aralia nudicaulis | Wild Sarsaparilla