Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zanthoxylum clava-herculis | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Xanthophyllum clava-herculis (Hercules' Club)
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L. |
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, the Hercules' Club, pepperwood, Southern prickly ash, etc., is a spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows to 10-17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps 2-3 cm long on the bark. The leaves are pinnately compound, 20-30 cm long with 7-19 leaflets, each leaflet 4-5 cm long. The flowers are dioecious, in panicles up to 20 cm long, each flower small, 6-8 mm diameter, with 3-5 white petals. The fruit is a two-valved capsule 6 mm diameter with a rough surface, and containing several small black seeds.
The tree is also called Z. macrophyllum. Along with the related Zanthoxylum americanum it is sometimes called "toothache tree"[1][2] or "tingle tongue" because of the numbness of the mouth, teeth and tongue induced by chewing on its leaves or bark (thus relieving toothache).
The tree has a rounded crown and requires plentiful water and sunlight. Its fruit is eaten by birds, and its leaves are browsed by deer. It is known to be host to a number of insect species, including the Giant swallowtail and the leaf beetle Derospidea brevicollis.
[edit] Potentially confused species
The name hercules' club also can apply to Aralia spinosa, also native to eastern North America. Aralia has large twice-compound leaves and very large leaf scars, so the trees are easily distinguished.
[edit] References
- ^ toothache tree. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition (2000).
- ^ toothache tree. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2007).
