Hercules Club, Texas

The Hercules-Club Texas or Pricklyash (Zanthoxylum hirsutum Buckley) is found on sandy or gravelly soil of Central and West Texas. This native plan is not to confused with the larger Hercules-club native the SE US Zanthoxylum clava-herculis. A prickly shrub, sometimes a small tree rarely exceeding 12-15 ft tall.. Found in open areas and at the edges of woodlands. Identifying characteristics are branches with prickles resembling those of a rosebush and then being of the Citrus family, the crushed leaves have an odor suggestive of orange peel.

The LEAVES are glabrous and leathery, 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.

The FLOWERS are dioecious, in panicles up to 20 cm long, each flower small, 6-8 mm diameter, with 3-5 white petals or in terminal many-branched racemes, individual flowers tiny and yellow-green, with 5 petals, appearing in early spring.

FOLLICLES are produced in clusters, individual fruits enclosed in a brown husk that splits open at maturity. FRUIT is spherical, 1/4 inch in diameter, reddish brown when ripe. Fruit is edible, with a lemon zest taste that first tingles, then numbs in the mouth, similar to the Szechuan peppers used in Chinese cuisine which are also from a Zanthoxylum species. The leaves have a similar but less intense taste and effect.

TWIGS are stout, green changing brown-green, bearing sharp scattered single spines, leaf scars shield-shaped, terminal buds rounded and green to brown. Young BRANCHES are thorny which can aid to dissuade predators making the Hercules Club a good choice for attracting wildlife.

The tree is also called Z. macrophyllum. Along with the related Zanthoxylum americanum it is sometimes called “toothache tree” or “tingle tongue” because of the numbness of the mouth, teeth and tongue induced by chewing on its leaves or bark (thus relieving toothache). It was used for such medicinal purposes by both Native Americans and early settlers. Its leaves are browsed by deer and its fruit is eaten by birds. The fruit passes through birds, which helps the seeds to germinate. The new trees tend to sprout below the favorite resting places of the birds, along fence rows and the edge of woods. It is known to be host to a number of insect species, including the Giant swallowtail and the leaf beetle Derospidea brevicollis.