Southern Prickly Ash
(Hercules’ Club)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Plant Family: Rutaceae
Leaves: Alternate, once-compound, with an odd number of leaflets, 7 or more; the paired leaflets are asymmetric and the margins have rounded teeth; paired prickles are found along the rachis.
Bark: Light gray with prominent warty and prickly knobs.
Flowers: Dioecious, small, green-yellow, in clusters at the branch ends; seen in spring.
Fruits: Green to brown follicles at the branch ends, each holding a shiny, black seed; summer into fall.
Habitat: Coastal hammocks, sandy soils.
Growth Form: Small tree.
Similar Species: Wild Lime Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum fagara) has winged leaves with rounded leaflets.
Comments: Southern Prickly Ash ranges west to Texas and north along the coast to the mid-Atlantic states.
