Zanthoxylum clava herculis

zan-THOK-sihl-umm KLAV-uhm HER-kew-lis
Linnaeus
Hercules-club (‘Tooth-ache Tree’), Southern Prickly Ash

Zanthoxylum clava herculis, Hercules-club (‘Tooth-ache Tree’),
courtesy of John Campbell copyright.

Leaf: Alternate, very tardily deciduous or evergreen, pinnately compound, 7-9 narrowly elliptical to lanceolate leaflets, leaflets with round-pointed teeth, waxy-shiny above, light green below, 5-8 inches overall, rachis may bear spines.

Flower: Dioecious; in terminal many-branched racemes, individual flowers tiny and yellow-green, with 5 petals, appearing in early spring.

Fruit: Follicles produced in clusters, individual fruits enclosed in a brown husk that splits open at maturity to reveal a shiny red-brown to black seed.

Twig: Stout, green changing brown-green, bearing sharp scattered single spines, leaf scars shield-shaped, terminal buds rounded and green to brown.

Bark: Very unique, gray-brown and smooth, with large spine-tipped corky-pyramidal projections, losing spines with age.

Form: A small tree, 30 to 40 feet in height.

Zones: 7b-9b; Florida and Georgia

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus2/factsheet.cfm?ID=649

The tree is also called Z. macrophyllum, and is sometimes called "toothache tree" or "tingle tongue" because of the numbness of the mouth, teeth and tongue induced by chewing on its leaves (thus relieving toothache).

Might be a host for Hylesia lineata, Actias selene, Samia cynthia, Rothschildia lebeau forbesi,

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