Up here, the local equivalent is devil's club (Echinopanax horridum). All you wincing West Coasters out there will agree with me that devil's club is horrible and has no redeeming qualities from ground level up--the root is said to contain insulin, but the rest of the plant is prickly or poisonous or both. EXCEPT:

Some years back in early spring, when the leaves of the devil's club were still closed up like little green cabbages, I met a nice lady by the side of the road. She had a shopping bag and a kitchen knife. She would stroke a leaf buds with the back of her hand, wait a moment, and then either cut the buds off to put in her shopping bag or move on to the next patch. I asked her what she was doing with--ecch!--devil's club. She said that if you gently touch the leaf buds and they don't prickle you, you can eat them(!). Boil in three waters, as is usual for wild plants. She said they taste, basically, green. I've never quite had the courage to try it. Anybody else out there know of this use for the Plant From Hell? Have you actually--gulp--eaten devil's club?