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Monday - March 09, 2009

From: Seattle, WA
Region: Northwest
Topic: General Botany
Title: Is Devilsclub related to Gunnera?
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Is Devil's Club related to Gunnera?

ANSWER:

Gunnera is the only genus in the Family Gunneraceae (not native to North America) and Oplopanax horridus (devilsclub) is a member of the Family Araliacaceae. Gunnera manicata and Gunnera tinctoria do look a lot like Devilsclub. However, if you scroll down to the Classification section on the USDA Plants Database page for Gunnera sp. and compare it to the Classification of Oplopanax sp., you will see that not only are they in different Families but they are also in different plant Orders.