All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.
See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.
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This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
I thought I knew all the plants that would attack me in southern Illinois...then I headed off trail to find a good spot for a cathole and started to push through a shoulder-high thicket of these guys:
This proved to be a mistake, due to the hitherto-unnoticed-by-me spiky thorns all over their stems. I found another spot, so now I'm just left with small punctures & curiosity.
Could it be Aralia spinosa?
Right on the edge of the range (at least according to https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/araspi/all.html) but you may well be right. Preference for moist soils fits the distribution I was seeing. I'll believe this until proven otherwise. Thanks!
After looking at some pictures, I see why it's sometimes referred to as "devil's walking stick!"
I'd say you're correct - and that map at the USDA has to be old, because I'm in MN and we absolutely have it here