Aurora Challenge Trail: Devil's Club Mystery Cache

The cache IS at the listed coordinates! Devil's club is one of the most common thorns found while geocaching in Alaska. It is also known as Alaskan ginseng and similar names, although it is not a true ginseng. In Tlingit it is known as S’áxt’. 

Traditionally, the charcoal from the stalks is still used to make ceremonial and protective face paints, and among the Ditidaht and neighboring groups, it was equally significant to red ochre as a symbolic link to the spirit world. Indigenous peoples such as the Tlingit and Haida have used the plant as traditional medicine for ailments such as adult-onset diabetes, as well as rheumatoid arthritis.^[7]

The plant has been used ceremonially by the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida people residing in Southeast Alaska and coastal British Columbia. A piece of Devil's club hung over a doorway is said to ward off evil. The plant is harvested and used in a variety of ways, most commonly as an oral tea in traditional settings, but also poultices and ointments. Native Americans also dried and pulverized the bark for use as a deodorant^[9] and used the mashed berries to clean hair.^[10]

Because devil's club is related to American ginseng, some people try to market the plant as an 'adaptogen'. The plant has been harvested for this purpose and sold widely as "Alaskan ginseng". Despite some morphological similarities between the araliaceous members Panax ('true' ginseng), Eleutherococcus senticosus ("Siberian ginseng") and devil's club, the different genera are chemically diverse.^{[citation needed]}

(Thanks Wikipedia!)