Shield Aralia

Treelets or small trees, 2-6(-7) m tall, andromonoecious. Leaves 1- or 2-pinnate; petiole 35-30 cm, enlarged and clasping at base, alate for 1-6 cm with membranous wings; petiolules 1-5 cm; leaflets 1 (leaves unifoliolate), 3, or 5 (rarely 2 or 4), broadly elliptic to oblate or reniform, occasionally ovate or obovate, 5-20(-24) × 5-20(-26) cm, papery to subleathery, base shallowly cordate or convex, margin subentire to coarsely crenulate or shallowly serrate, teeth short, apex rounded. Inflorescence terminal, erect, a panicle of umbels; primary axis 30-100 cm; secondary axes 15-30, in 2-4 verticils, 15-50 cm; tertiary axes (peduncles) 7-30 per secondary axis, in irregular verticils, 2-18 mm, with a terminal umbel bisexual and lateral umbels of staminate flowers; pedicels 1.5-7 mm. Ovary (2 or)3-5-carpellate; styles free nearly to base, 0.4-0.6 mm at anthesis, spreading, expanding in fruit to 0.8 mm. Fruit infrequently seen, subglobose to depressed-globose (somewhat triangular to quadrangular when 3- or 4-carpellate), 4-6 mm high.

Cultivated in gardens. Fujian (Xiamen), Guangdong (Guangzhou) [native to SW Pacific islands].

Crassula scutellaria N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica, 78. 1768; Aralia balfouriana André; Polyscias balfouriana (André) L. H. Bailey.

Polyscias scutellaria, the shield aralia, or plum aralia, is a tropical shrub or small tree reaching 2–6 meters in height. A native of the Southwest Pacific islands, it is commonly grown in gardens.

The leaves and root can be used as an antiseptic and deodorant.