OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

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



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.

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969    mpa_page_279

        

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_667

        

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_zacl_001_lvd

        

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide    pnd_zacl_005_lvd

        

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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).

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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).

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

JK Marlow    jkm181110_5683

November    Horry County    SC

Myrtle Beach State Park

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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).

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

JK Marlow    jkm231104_6482

November    Horry County    SC

Myrtle Beach State Park

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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).

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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).

image of Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Toothache Tree, Hercules-club, Sea-ash, Southern Prickly-ash

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

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

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)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

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!



 


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