Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Malvids: Sapindales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
FAMILY
Rutaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read more about Toothache Tree at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Many of the common names come from the numbing effect on the mouth of chewing the leaf or twig, the flavor, smell, and effect being very similar to Ctenium aromaticum, Toothache Grass, per Weakley's Flora (2023)
The compound leaves are armed with stout prickles along the rachis. The twigs are also spiny. On the larger branches and trunks, the spines become elevated on conical, pyramidal, or cylindrical corky bases up to 5 cm long and 4 cm in diameter, giving the trunk a very peculiar appearance. Read more in Weakley's Flora (2023).
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
FAMILY
Rutaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 103-01-002:
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis FAMILY Rutaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
COMMON NAME:
Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969 mpa_page_279
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Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_667
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_zacl_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_zacl_005_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm200301_2975
March Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
A large shrub or small tree, often 4-10m tall, usually with a single trunk, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm181110_5682
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
Leaflets coriaceous, crenate, glabrous, with midveins closer to lower margins, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm181110_5683
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm181110_5687b
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
Twigs greenish-gray (vs. Z. americanum's reddish-brown or gray), per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm231104_6482
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm231104_6484
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
Leaflets leathery, narrowly ovate, shallowly toothed, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
JK Marlow jkm231104_6487
November Horry County SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
Rachis spiny, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
Will Stuart wil_10836880524
November Horry County SC
Heritage Shores Nature Preserve
On larger branches and trunks, the spines become elevated on corky bases, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
FAMILY
Rutaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
FAMILY
Rutaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 103-01-002:
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
FAMILY
Rutaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthoxylum clava-herculis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
2318
Shrub; Tree
Perennial
Dioecious
Habitat: maritime forests, dunes, shell middens, shell hammocks, maritime scrub, inland (in FL and GA) in hammocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in GA Coastal Plain (uncommon in Carolinas)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Leaves often armed with prickles on rachis; twigs, branches, and trunk with scattered prickles
LEAVES:
Tardily deciduous, sometimes somewhat evergreen
Odd-pinnately compound: 7-17 leaflets
Alternate
FLOWER:
Spring
Yellowish-green
Radially symmetrical
4-6 sepals
4-6 petals
Unisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Red
Follicle
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p351
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p426
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p500
- How to Recognize Shrubs (Grimm, 1966) p159
- Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Foote & Jones, 1989) p082
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p304
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p077
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p087
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p387
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