How to Grow and Care for Prickly ash

The tree blooms in spring forming axillary flower clusters about 5 mm and yellow-green in color. It is dioecious and the flowers of the male plant can be consumed as hana-sanshō while the female flowers yield berries or peppercorns of about 5 mm. Around fall the berries turn scarlet and burst scattering the black seeds within. The branch grows pairs of sharp thorns and has odd-pinnately compound leaves alternately arranged with 5〜9 pairs of ovate leaflets having crenate (slightly serrated) margins.

The hercules' club or Zanthoxylum clava-herculis is a unique tree with spiny crowns growing out of the bark. It is also known as the Toothache Tree or the Tongue Tickle because chewing on the bark of this tree will cause a numbing sensation in the mouth.

Common prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) is a small deciduous tree that grows in dense thickets and features compound leaves that resemble an ash tree's foliage. Common prickly-ash leaves are green but turn yellow in fall. Fragrant inconspicuous flowers bloom in spring followed by small red berries that turn black as they ripen. It prefers full sun and is often used as a barrier in poor soil conditions.

Lime prickly ash (Zanthoxylum fagara) is a small shrub or tree that can grow to be 7 m tall. Lime prickly ash is also known as wild lime. This species is native to Texas and Florida in the United States.

The small knobwood is a multi-branched tree that can reach up to a height of 5 m. It has glossy green leaves with sharp spines, smooth bark, cone-shaped knobs, and brown thorns. It attracts the emperor swallowtail and other butterfly species, as the larvae feed on the leaves. The fruits are also eaten by baboons and vervet monkeys.