Zanthoxylum nitidum

What to Eat

Edible parts: Spice, Fruit, Leaves - flavouring

No edible uses are known for this plant.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in rainforest. It grows between sea level and 500 m altitude in tropical Queensland. In Sikkim it grows between 1,000-2,000 m above sea level. In XTBG Yunnan.

Asia, Australia, China, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northeastern India, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Ryukyu, SE Asia, Sikkim, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam,

How to Identify

A shrub or scrambling vine. There are hooked thorns on the stems. Plants are separately male and female. The leaves are compound and alternate. Leaves are spiny underneath and also have small hairs. There are 5-9 leaflets and they are 5-10 cm long by 2-5 cm wide. A group of flowers occur in the axils of leaves or at the ends of branches. The flowers have 4 petals. They are cream, yellow or pink. They are 2 mm long. The fruit is a red follicle. It is 4-7 mm long and wide and has one seed. The seed is black and 4-5 mm long.

How to Grow

Zanthoxylum nitidum is a plant mainly of the tropics and subtropics and is unlikely to tolerate much, if any, frost. Its range extends to hardiness zone nine in southern China (from Yunnan to Zhejiang) and so it might also succeed outdoors in the warmest parts of the temperate zone. Prefers a good deep well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or semi-shade. Flowers are formed on the old wood. A dioecious species, both male and female forms must be grown if seed is required. Occasional plants have both male and female flowers (monoecious).

Propagation: Seed is best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it ripens in autumn. Stored seed may need up to 3 months of cold stratification, though scarification can also help. Sow stored seed in a cold frame as early in the year as possible; germination should occur in late spring, though it may take a further 12 months. Prick seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle, grow on in a cold frame through their first winter, then plant out in early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe wood can be taken in July or August and rooted in a frame. Root cuttings 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots in a greenhouse, give a good success rate. Suckers can be removed in late winter and planted directly into their permanent positions.

Medicinal Uses

The root is anodyne, antiphlogistic, carminative, and depurative. The plant is also analgesic and antirheumatic. The resin in the bark — especially that of the roots — is powerfully stimulant and tonic.

Other Uses

The plant is used as an insecticide and is also toxic to fish.

Zanthoxylum nitidum, commonly known as shiny-leaf prickly-ash, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is a woody climber with prickles on the branchlets, thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches, pinnate leaves with five to nine leaflets, and panicles or racemes of white to pale yellow, male or female flowers in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets.

More from Rutaceae

Acronychia aberrans

Acid berry, Plasticine tree

Acronychia acidula

Lemon aspen

Acronychia acronychioides

White aspen

Acronychia baeuerlenii

Netted yellow wood

Acronychia chooreechillum

Mountain aspen

Acronychia crassipetala

Crater aspen