pricklyash Rutaceae Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

Leaf:Alternate, very tardily deciduous or evergreen, pinnately compound, 7-9 narrowly elliptical to lanceolate leaflets, leaflets with round-pointed teeth, waxy-shiny above, light green below, 5-8 inches overall, rachis may bear spines.
Flower:Species is dioecious; in terminal many-branched racemes, individual flowers tiny and yellow-green, with 5 petals, appearing in early spring.
Fruit:Follicles produced in clusters, individual fruits enclosed in a brown husk that splits open at maturity to reveal a shiny red-brown to black seed.
Twig:Stout, green changing brown-green, bearing sharp scattered single spines, leaf scars shield-shaped, terminal buds rounded and green to brown.
Bark:Very unique, gray-brown and smooth, with large spine-tipped corky-pyramidal projections, losing spines with age.
Form:A small tree, 30 to 40 feet in height.

leaf flower twig bark form map

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