Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Maxim.

This is a branchy shrub of 2.0-2.5 m in height.

The bark is light grey, with longitudinal furrows. The young light brown or yellowish-brown sprouts are covered with thin, sharp-needle-shaped, straight and slanting downward thorns of up to 1 cm in length, breaking off easily at a touch. Old sprouts are often thorn less.

This common taiga shrub is found in the spruce, cedar and mixed forests, by the riverbanks, streams and ravines, under cliffs and taluses. It rises in mountains up to 600-800 m above sea level.

It is shade-tolerant and winterhardy.

It is valuable honey and medicinal plant.

The name came from the bitter-hot taste of the fruits.

Distribution in the Russia's Far East. Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krais, Amurskaya Oblast, Sakhalin Island.

General distribution. China, Korean Peninsula, Japan.

Authors: M.N. Chipizubova, L.M. Pshennikova

Photo: M.N. Chipizubova, L.M. Pshennikova, N. Razhigaeva

Collage: E.V. Bibchenko