Zanthoxylum nitidum

Last updated

Shiny-leaf prickly-ash
Zanthoxylum nitidum.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Zanthoxylum
Species:
Z. nitidum
Binomial name
Zanthoxylum nitidum
Synonyms [2]
  • Fagara nitidaRoxb.
  • Fagara torva(F.Muell.) Engl.
  • Xanthoxylon torvumF.Muell. orth. var.
  • Xanthoxylum torvumF.Muell. orth. var.
  • Zanthoxylum torvumF.Muell.
Main stem Zanthoxylum nitidum trunk.jpg
Main stem

Zanthoxylum nitidum, commonly known as shiny-leaf prickly-ash, [3] tez-mui (in Assamese) [4] or liang mian zhen (in China), [5] 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.

Contents

Description

Zanthoxylum nitidum is a woody climber with curved prickles on the branchlets and thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches. The leaves are pinnate, 100–340 mm (3.9–13.4 in) long with five to nine egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets. The leaflets are 45–100 mm (1.8–3.9 in) long and 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) wide, the side leaflets sessile or on a petiolule up to 3 mm (0.12 in) long and the end leaflet on a petiolule 7–40 mm (0.28–1.57 in) long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets in panicles or racemes up to 80 mm (3.1 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long. The four sepals are 0.5–0.8 mm (0.020–0.031 in) long and the four petals white or pale yellow, and 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long. The flowers are either functionally male or female, the male flowers with four stamens about 3.5 mm (0.14 in) long and four sterile, finger-like carpels. The female flowers lack stamens and have four carpels 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long. Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is a more or less spherical, red or brown follicle 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long. [6] [7]

Taxonomy

Shiny-leaf prickly-ash was first formally described in 1824 by William Roxburgh who gave it the name Fagara nitida and published the description in Flora Indica, or, descriptions of Indian plants. [8] In 1824, de Candolle changed the name to Zanthoxylum nitidum in his book, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis . [9] [10]

Distribution

Zanthoxylum nitidum is found in India, South China, southeast Asia, and northern Australia. In Australia it grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of 400 m (1,300 ft) from the Daintree River south to Rockingham Bay. [4] [6]

Uses

Zanxthoxylum nitidum is used as an insecticide and a piscicide. [4]

In India and Nepal, the fruits are used as a condiment. [11] However, the roots, leaves and fruit are poisonous, with as little as 40g of leaves considered to be a lethal dose. [12]

Zanthoxylum nitidum is one several species of Zanthoxylum that are used in traditional medicine in various parts of the world.[ citation needed ]

Chemical constituents

The plant contains the chemical compounds nitidine, toddalolactone, and chelerythrine. [13] [14]

The essential oil, at least from some varieties, contains limonene and geraniol. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dillwynia tenuifolia</i> Species of legume

Dillwynia tenuifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with linear leaves, and orange-yellow and red flowers.

<i>Sambucus gaudichaudiana</i> Species of plant

Sambucus gaudichaudiana, commonly known as white elderberry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a perennial shrub but with stems that are produced annually with pinnate leaves that have three to eleven leaflets, small white flowers and small but edible fruit. It grows in cool forest and shady gorges.

<i>Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum</i> Species of tree

Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum, known as thorny yellow-wood, satinwood, satin tree or scrub mulga, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It is a rainforest shrub or tree with thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and prickles on the branches, pinnate leaves, and male and female flowers arranged in panicles.

<i>Flindersia australis</i> Species of tree

Flindersia australis, commonly known as crow's ash, flindosy or Australian teak, is a species of tree that is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It has pinnate leaves with between five and thirteen egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, white to cream-coloured flowers arranged in panicles on the ends of branchlets and followed by woody capsules studded with short, rough points and containing winged seeds.

<i>Boronia ledifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Boronia ledifolia, commonly known as the Sydney boronia, showy boronia or ledum boronia, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with simple or pinnate leaves which have a strong odour when crushed, and pale to bright pink flowers. Although difficult to propagate, this boronia is a popular garden plant.

<i>Gompholobium glabratum</i> Species of legume

Gompholobium glabratum, commonly known as dainty wedge-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a low-lying or ascending shrub with pinnate leaves that have five to seven leaflets, and yellow and green or greyish flowers.

Persoonia rudis is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy young branchlets, linear leaves, and yellow flowers borne in groups of five to thirty on a rachis 3–100 mm (0.12–3.94 in) that continues to grow after flowering.

<i>Persoonia dillwynioides</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia dillwynioides, commonly known as Fitzgerald persoonia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading shrub with smooth bark, linear leaves and bright yellow flowers borne singly or in groups of up to four along a rachis up to 3 mm (0.12 in) long.

<i>Hakea brachyptera</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia

Hakea brachyptera, commonly known as the short-winged hakea, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae native to an area in the southern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions of Western Australia.

<i>Zanthoxylum rhetsa</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Petrophile carduacea</i> Species of shrub endemic to Western Australia

Petrophile carduacea is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub with deeply toothed leaves, and more or less spherical heads of hairy yellow flowers.

<i>Isopogon villosus</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to southwestern Western Australia

Isopogon villosus is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a tufted shrub with cylindrical leaves with twenty-five to thirty-two widely diverging lobes, and oval heads of cream-coloured to yellow flowers.

<i>Zanthoxylum ovalifolium</i> Species of plant in the family Rutaceae

Zanthoxylum ovalifolium, commonly known as thorny yellowwood, oval-leaf yellow wood or little yellowwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is a shrub or tree usually with trifoliate leaves, white, male and female flowers arranged in panicles in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets and red, purple or brown follicles.

<i>Mirbelia platylobioides</i> Species of legume

Mirbelia platylobioides is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is a small, prostrate plant with trailing stems, yellow and red pea flowers and ovate leaves. It is endemic to New South Wales.

Hibbertia nitida is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to the Central Coast of New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and yellow flowers with about eleven stamens arranged on one side of two silky-hairy carpels.

<i>Podolobium scandens</i> Species of legume

Podolobium scandens, commonly known as netted shaggy-pea, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a prostrate, small shrub with orange-yellow pea-like flowers and red markings.

<i>Zanthoxylum avicennae</i> Species of Rutaceae

Zanthoxylum avicennae is a woody plant in the family Rutaceae.

<i>Pomaderris ligustrina</i> Species of flowering plant

Pomaderris ligustrina, commonly known as privet pomaderris, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with hairy stems, lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves, and loose clusters of cream-coloured or yellow flowers.

<i>Epacris coriacea</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris coriacea is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a eastern New South Wales. It is a slender, erect shrub with hairy branchlets, egg-shaped to more or less diamond-shaped leaves and tube-shaped, white or cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Sprengelia monticola</i> Species of plant

Sprengelia monticola, commonly known as rock sprengelia, is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to the Blue Mountains in eastern New South Wales. It is an open or low-lying shrub with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Zanthoxylum nitidum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T145825034A145825036. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Zanthoxylum nitidum". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. "Zanthoxylum nitidum". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Bhattacharya, Sanjib; Zaman, M. Kamaruz; Ghosh, Ashoke K. (2009). "Histological and Physico-chemical Evaluation of Zanthoxylum nitidum Stem Bark". Ethnobotanical Leaflets. 13: 540.
  5. "Zanthoxylum nitidum". Flora of China. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 Hartley, Thomas G. (2013). Annette J.G. Wilson (ed.). Flora of Australia (Volume 26). Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. p. 75. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  7. F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Zanthoxylum nitidum". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  8. "Fagara nitida". APNI. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  9. "Zanthoxylum nitidum". APNI. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  10. de Candolle, Augustin P. (1824). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Paris: Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Würtz,1824-73. p. 727. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. 1 2 Bhattacharya, Sanjib and Kamaruz Zaman. (2009). Essential oil composition of fruits and leaves of Zanthoxylum nitidum grown in upper Assam region of India. Pharmacognosy Research 1:3 148-51.
  12. "Atlas of Poisonous Plants in Hong Kong - A Clinical Toxicology Perspective 香港有毒植物圖鑑 - 臨床毒理學透視".
  13. Jing, C., Qun, X., and J. Rohrer. (2012). Determination of nitidine chloride, toddalolactone, and chelerythrine chloride by HPLC Thermo Fisher Scientific.
  14. Zhang, S; Yao, Y; Liu, C (2001). "Determination of nitidine in different parts of Zanthoxylum nitidum". Zhong Yao Cai (in Chinese). 24 (9): 649–50. PMID   11799776.