Devil's Walking Stick Near Towson Run, Aralia Spinosa

As you walk along the old Towson Run railroad bed from the north, there will be an opening to your right with a broad lawn.  Just to the north of this opening will be a grove of Devil's Walking Stick characterized by sharp spine on every part.  The grove configuration is typical since the plants can spread by root extensions,"clonal thickets".  The location on an edge habitat and near a stream is also typical.

Here in August they are flowering, particularly the taller trees. White flowers in Panicles. Even with caution this plant will draw blood.  Thinking that all this thorny protection must be guarding an interesting leaf, I tried crushing and smelling a leaflet, even the underside of the leaflet has thorns.   Could evolution work the other way, nature wanted to protect the leaflet with thorns and the plant incidentally grows thorns everywhere? A possible science project.

One reference mentions that the shoots in the spring are edible after boiling, the rest of the plant being poisonous.  There can be contact sensitivity. This one is near the bottom of my foraging list, but interesting.  It is part of the Gingko family but with little superficial resemblance. May have been used as a barrier like the Osage Orange,because of their thorns.
Photos show the overview of the thicket with flowers, a large leaf with multiple leaflets, the spiny trunk and a young leaf on a smaller plant.

Here is part of a branch 3 months later in the fall, end of October. I have stopped "feeling the spines" just too sharp.  The white flowers turned to a black fruit which has disappeared by now. nybg.org mentions that the Japanese angelica tree can be close in appearance,an invasive. The invasive fruit may be lower on the tree, a lighter color and the leaf vein pattern runs to the tip of the teeth.  The toothache tree is smaller and has paired thorns, these are single thorns.