Description
Zanthoxylum – Prickly-ash – Hercules Club –
There are about 250 broadly rounded to upright, spiny, deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, which make up this genus. They naturally occur in forest from Asia, Australia North to South America, and Africa, usually in warmer regions. They have aromatic bark, and are grown for their alternate, usually pinnate leaves, and their fruits, which split to reveal often black seeds. They bear cymes or panicles of small, cup shaped. Green or yellowish green flowers from spring to summer, individual plants may be dioeciuos, or produce both unisexual and bisexual flowers. Suitable for use in a shrub border or as a specimen tree.
Grow in fertile, moist but well drained soil in full sun or light, dappled shade.
Prone to powdery mildew, rust, and a few leaf spots.
Z. piperitum – Japan Pepper – Japanese Pepper – This bushy, spiny, deciduous shrub or small tree from China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan grows 8-20’ tall and wide. It produces aromatic, pinnate, glossy dark green leaves, to 6” long, each composed of 11-23 oval, toothed leaflets, turning yellow in autumn. In early summer bears panicles, 2” long of small, cup shaped, yellow-green flowers followed by tiny, spherical, berry like red fruit.
Zones 6-9
