Pricklyash is a small, deciduous tree or shrub usually with prickles. Branchlets and leaves are aromatic when crushed. Winter buds are small and superposed. Leaves are alternate and odd-pinnate with five to 11 leaflets per leaf. Flowers are dioecious or polygamous and small. Fruit is a dry follicle.
Zanthoxylum americanum–Common Pricklyash (Toothache-Tree)
|
|
| Common Pricklyash (Toothache-Tree) |
Common Pricklyash (Toothache-Tree)–Zanthoxylum americanum
A small tree or shrub usually not exceeding 15—20 feet in height, pricklyash is found in thickets and second-growth woodlands in western Ohio. Pricklyash is less common in the eastern portion of the state. This plant is a source of xanthoxylin which is used in some medical preparations and at one time was used as a folk cure for a toothache.
Leaves are alternate, odd-pinnately compound with five to 11 leaflets per leaf. Leaflets are dark green above and pale green beneath. Leaflets are either slightly toothed or entire and pubescent beneath. Foliage is aromatic.
Winter buds are small and superposed. Buds are reddish and woolly. Leaf scars are white. Young twigs are covered with soft, fine hairs. Branches are covered with prickles that are painful to touch. Prickles are found mostly in pairs below the stipules.
Flowers are small, dioecious or polygamous, and borne in axillary clusters before the foliage emerges. April or May flowers are small and yellow to yellowish-green in color. The aromatic fruit follows on the female plant. Fruit is berrylike with a one- to two-seeded follicle. Fruit is black and ripens in August.