Zanthoxylum | |
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Zanthoxylum kauaense | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Rutaceae |
Subfamily: | Zanthoxyloideae |
Genus: | Zanthoxylum L. |
Type species | |
Zanthoxylum americanum | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Zanthoxylum is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae in the subfamily Rutoideae. Several of the species have yellow heartwood, to which their generic name alludes. [3] Several species are cultivated for their use as spices, notably including Sichuan pepper.
Plants in the genus Zanthoxylum are typically dioecious shrubs, trees or woody climbers armed with trichomes. The leaves are arranged alternately and are usually pinnate or trifoliate. The flowers are usually arranged in panicles and usually function as male or female flowers with four sepals and four petals, the sepals remaining attached to the fruit. Male flowers have four stamens opposite the sepals. Female flowers have up to five, more or less free carpels with the styles free or sometimes fused near the tip. The fruit is usually of up to four follicles fused at the base, each containing a single seed almost as large as the follicle. [4] [5]
The genus Zanthoxylum was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in the first volume of Species Plantarum . [6] [7] The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek words ξανθός (xanthos), meaning 'yellow', and ξύλον (xylon), meaning 'wood'. It is technically misspelled, as the z should be x, but botanical nomenclature does not allow for spelling corrections. It refers to a yellow dye made from the roots of some species. [8] The first species that Linnaeus described was Zanthoxylum trifoliatum, now regarded as a synonym of Eleutherococcus trifoliatus . [7] [9] The once separate genus Fagara is now included in Zanthoxylum. [10]
28 fossil seeds of the extinct Zanthoxylum kristinae, from the early Miocene, have been found in the Kristina Mine at Hrádek nad Nisou in North Bohemia, the Czech Republic. [11]
Many Zanthoxylum species make excellent bonsai and in temperate climates they can be grown quite well indoors. Zanthoxylum beecheyanum and Zanthoxylum piperitum are two species commonly grown as bonsai. [12]
Spices are made from a number of species in this genus, including:
In Indonesia's North Sumatra province, Zanthoxylum acanthopodium is harvested for andaliman. [13] In Indonesian Batak cuisine, andaliman is ground and mixed with chilies and seasonings into a green sambal or chili paste. [14] Arsik is a typical Indonesian dish containing andaliman. [15]
Zanthoxylum piperitum is harvested in Japan and Korea to produce sanshō (山椒) or chopi (초피), which has numbing properties similar to those of Chinese Sichuan peppercorns. [16] In Korean cuisine, chopi is often used to accompany fish soups such as chueo-tang, whereas the plant's seeds are separated and used to make oil, and the oil is used as a medicine.
The Korean sancho is made from Zanthoxylum schinifolium , which is slightly less bitter than chopi. [17] In Korean cuisine, chopi is often used to accompany fish soups such as chueo-tang . [18]
The fruit of Zanthoxylum armatum and Zanthoxylum bungeanum species is used to make Sichuan pepper by grinding the husks that surround the berries. [19]
In the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa in Western India, the dried berries of Zanthoxylum rhetsa are known as teppal or tirphal in Marathi are added to foods such as legumes and fish. The name in both languages means 'three fruits' or 'three pods'. [20] Because the trees bear fruit during the monsoon season, the berries are associated with the concurrent Krishna Janmashtami festival. [21]
The fresh fruits are parrot green in color and are used as a flavouring agent in many curries made with a paste of coconut, chilis, and other spices. When dried, the flesh of the fruit hardens, turns a brownish black color and opens up to show the black seeds within. The seeds are discarded and the dried fruit is stored in containers for use around the year. Mostly used in fish preparations and a few vegetarian dishes, with coconut masala, this spice has a very strong woody aroma and is discarded at the time of eating the curry.
Plants in the genus Zanthoxylum contain the lignan sesamin.
Species identified in Nigeria contains several types of alkaloids including benzophenanthridines (nitidine, dihydronitidine, oxynitidine, fagaronine, dihydroavicine, chelerythrine, dihydrochelerythrine, methoxychelerythrine, norchelerythrine, oxychelerythrine, decarine and fagaridine), furoquinolines (dictamine, 8-methoxydictamine, skimmianine, 3-dimethylallyl-4-methoxy-2-quinolone), carbazoles (3-methoxycarbazole, glycozoline), aporphines (berberine, tembetarine, [22] magnoflorine, M-methyl-corydine), canthinones (6-canthinone), acridones (1-hydroxy-3-methoxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, 1-hydroxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, zanthozolin), and aromatic and aliphatic amides. [23] Hydroxy-alpha sanshool is a bioactive component of plants from the genus Zanthoxylum, including the Sichuan pepper.
Zanthoxylum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia).
The following is a list of species accepted by Plants of the World Online as of August 2020: [2]
The genus Fagara has been sunk into Zanthoxylum, but as of January 2025 [update] , no name seemed to have been provided for Fagara externa , which was regarded as an unplaced name by Plants of the World Online. [24]
Celtis is a genus of about 60–70 species of deciduous trees, commonly known as hackberries or nettle trees, in the hemp family Cannabaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution.
Melicope is a genus of about 240 species of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring from the Hawaiian Islands across the Pacific Ocean to tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Plants in the genus Melicope have simple or trifoliate leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flowers arranged in panicles, with four sepals, four petals and four or eight stamens and fruit composed of up to four follicles.
Tetradium is a genus of trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring in temperate to tropical East Asia. In older books, the genus was often included in the related genus Euodia, but that genus is now restricted to tropical species. In cultivation in English-speaking countries, they are known as Euodia, Evodia, or Bee bee tree.
Zanthoxylum simulans, the Chinese-pepper, Chinese prickly-ash or flatspine prickly-ash, is a flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, native to southern and central China, Taiwan, and South Korea. It is one of several species of Zanthoxylum from which Sichuan pepper is produced.
Protium is a genus of more than 140 species of flowering plants in the family Burseraceae. It is native to the Neotropics from northern Mexico to Paraguay and southern Brazil, and to Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southern China, the Philippines, Java, and New Guinea. The genus had been included in Bursera, but is distinct.
"Uzazi" is the Nigerian name for the 'prickly ash' tree of genus Zanthoxylum tessmannii / Fagara tessmannii / Zanthoxylum gilletii, a member of the Rutaceae family, native to Central and West Africa, and a close relative of the Sichuan pepper. It usually refers specifically to the spice made from its fruit and pericarp, though sometimes other parts of it such as its leaves are used.
Stenospermation is a genus of plant in family Araceae native to South America and Central America.
Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, also called ailanthus-like prickly ash, is an Asiatic plant of the prickly-ash genus Zanthoxylum, natively occurring in forest-covered parts of southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan from Honshu southward. The piquant fruit serves as a local substitute for the ordinary red-pepper in China before the Columbian exchange. In Taiwan, the young leaves are used in cuisines.
Zanthoxylum fagara or wild lime, is a species of flowering plant that—despite its name—is not part of the genus Citrus with real limes and other fruit, but is a close cousin in the larger citrus family, Rutaceae. It is more closely related to Sichuan pepper. It is native to southern Florida and Texas in the United States, and to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as far south as Paraguay. Common names include: lime prickly-ash, wild lime, colima, uña de gato, and corriosa.
Sciaphila is a genus of mycoheterotrophic plants in the family Triuridaceae. These plants receive nutrition from fungi and neighboring trees and have less need for photosynthesis. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, found in Africa, China, Japan, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Latin America and on various islands Pacific Islands. The most noteworthy feature of the genus is the number of the various flower parts 99.9 percent of Monocots are trimerous, but Sciaphila spp. can have eight or even ten parts in a whorl.
Zanthoxylum armatum, also called winged prickly ash or rattan pepper in English, is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is an aromatic, deciduous, spiny shrub growing to 3.5 metres (11 ft) in height, endemic from Pakistan across to Southeast Asia and up to Korea and Japan. It is one of the sources of the spice Sichuan pepper, and also used in folk medicine, essential oil production and as an ornamental garden plant.
Zanthoxylum piperitum, also known as Japanese pepper or Japanese prickly-ash, is a deciduous aromatic spiny shrub or small tree of the citrus and rue family Rutaceae, native to Japan and Korea.
Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, or andaliman, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. Its range includes southern western China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern India and northeastern India, Nepal, Laos, Burma, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Peninsular Malaysia.
Sichuan pepper (Chinese: 花椒; pinyin: huājiāo, also known as Sichuanese pepper, Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and mala pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, Bhutan and in northeast India. It is called mejenga in Assam, India. It is called Thingey in Bhutan and is used in preparing Ezay, to add spiciness to rice porridge, Ba-thup and noodle and other snacks. It is extensively used in preparing blood sausage throughout Bhutan, Tibet and China. Despite its name, Sichuan pepper is not closely related to black pepper or chili peppers. It is made from a plant of the genus Zanthoxylum in the family Rutaceae, which includes citrus and rue.
Zanthoxylum rhetsa, commonly known as Indian prickly ash, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and occurs from India east to the Philippines and south to northern Australia. It is a deciduous shrub or tree with cone-shaped spines on the stems, pinnate leaves with between nine and twenty-three leaflets, panicles of white or yellowish, male and female flowers, followed by spherical red, brown or black follicles.
Zanthoxyloideae is a subfamily of the family Rutaceae. Its most notable member is probably Sichuan pepper.
Zanthoxylum austrosinense, or South Chinese Sichuan pepper, is a woody plant in the family Rutaceae and is native to southern China.
Zanthoxylum undulatifolium is a woody plant from the Rutaceae family. It is native to western Hubei, eastern Sichuan, Taibai Mountain in southern Shaanxi to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China.