Castor aralia, native to Japan and eastern Asia, is an upright oval tree for the plant connoisseur with a taste for the unusual. The stout branches are armed with a scattering of stout thorns. The leaves are huge, up to one foot wide, and are palmately lobed into seven segments, like a giant Japanese maple. In August  the buds open into a starburst of globular, greenish-white flowers an inch across. Bees flock to the flowers in abundance. The fruits are small, black, and narrow. Because birds love to consume the fruit, the plant may reseed. Its fall color is a beautiful yellow.