PRICKLY ASH
Most of our native Ashes are members of the Genus Fraxinus. However, there are
some Ashes that are not in that genus. One of them is the Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum
americanum Miller).
Prickly Ash is a member of the Order Sapindales, the Family Rutaceae, and the
Subfamily Toddalioideae. The generic name, Zanthoxylum (or Xanthoxylum), is Greek
for “yellow wood”. Xanthos is “yellow” and xylum is “wood”. The specific epithet,
americanum, is Latin for “of America”. At different times and places, other common
names for this plant were American Prickly Ash, Angelica Tree, Common Prickly Ash,
Hercules Club, Northern Prickly Ash, Pellitory Bark, Spitberry, Sting Tongue,
Suterberry, Toothache Bush, Toothache Tree, Wait-a-Bit, and Yellow Wood.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRICKLY ASH
Height: Its height is 4-30 feet.
Diameter: Its trunk diameter is 1-6 inches.
Twigs: It twigs are zigzag. These younger twigs are wooly and the older twigs are
smooth and are mottled with dark brown, gray, purple, and black. Its scattered lenticels
later become linear, white cracks.
These twigs have paired, straight, short, stout, persistent, and detachable spines,
prickles, or thorns that flank both the leaf scars and the lateral buds. These prickles are
about ¼-½ inch long.
The leaf scars are white, rounded or broadly V-shaped, and slightly raised. They have
3-5 circular or C-shaped bundle scars.
Buds: Its lateral buds are short, rounded at the base, and pointed at the tip. They are red
and wooly. They are superposed above the leaf scar. There are also larger true terminal
buds.
Leaves: Its leaves are odd-pinnately compound, alternate, and deciduous. Its leaves are
2-11 inches long with 3-11 paired leaflets. Each leaflet is ovate to elliptical, 1-3 inches
long, leathery, smooth and dark green on the top with sunken veins, and paler green and
slightly hairy below. Its tips are blunt-pointed and its bases are either rounded or broadly
pointed. Their margins are smooth, wavy, or finely toothed with a small yellow gland
between each tooth. Its petioles and rachis may have tiny prickles upon its upper side. In
the fall these leaves turn yellow. When crushed, these leaves emit a lemony odor.
Flowers: Its flowers are arranged in cymed, umbelled clusters upon the previous year’s
twigs. Each flower is about ¼ inch long and wide; has a corolla of 5 fringed, spreading,
yellow-green petals with reddish tips; no calyx; and is dioecious or polygamous. The
male flowers have 5 stamens and the female flowers have 3-5 pistils. These flowers are
insect pollinated. Flowering season is April to May, before the leaves arrive.
Fruit: Its fruits are arranged in short-stalked, axillary clusters. Each fruit is red and fleshy
when young but later dries and becomes red-brown. These fruits are lemon aromatic and
are a ¼-½ inch, globose or oblong, and berry-like 2-valved capsule, pod, or follicle. The
fruit splits down the middle to discharge 1-2 shiny, oval, black seeds. Fruiting season is
July to October.
Bark: Its bark is smooth, thin, and slightly warty when young but becomes furrowed as it
matures. It is gray or brown with light blotches.
Roots: Its roots send up sucker sprouts to form thick cloned colonies of this plant. After a
fire, these roots will easily regenerate more sprouts.
Wood: Its wood is hard and is yellow to pale brown. It yields a yellow dye. It has no
commercial value.
Habitat: Its habitats mostly consist of dry to moist, partially shaded, second growth
woodlands and thickets with rich soil. They may also be found in old fields and along
riverbanks, fencerows, and roadsides. It can become a pest plant in pastures. This plant is
not tolerant of deep shade.
Range: Its range mainly includes parts of southeastern Canada, New York and
Pennsylvania; most of the Great Lakes states; and parts of Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. It
is rare in the South.
Wildlife Uses:
Many species of wildlife have uses for the Prickly Ash. The leaves attract the Giant
Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio cresphantes Cramer) and the Spicebush Swallowtail
Butterfly (Papilio troilus L.). Its larvae eat the leaves and may sometimes defoliate the
plant. Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceus L.) and Northern Bobwhites (Colinus
virginianus L.) eat the fruits. Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina Gmelin) and
American Robins (Turdus migratorius L.) may nest within the dense thickets. Whitetailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) and other Mammal (Class Mammalia)
species rarely browse upon this plant.
Medicinal Uses:
Prickly Ash has a lot of medicinal uses. Both the Native Americans and the early
European settlers used this plant.
The stem or root bark and the ripened fruits contain pyrocoumarin, xanthyletin,
xanthoxyletin, xanthoxyleten, and the alkaloids berberine and xanthoxylin. The roots and
the leaves also have some medicinal uses. The fruit or the bark was used as an
anthelmintic, an antispasmodic, an astringent, a carminative, a diaphoretic, a diuretic, an
emmenagogue, an expectorant, a febrifuge, a sedative, and a stimulant.
The bark, fruit, or leaves were chewed for treating toothaches. A bark decoction was
used for treating colds, colic, cramps, rheumatism, skin rashes, and venereal diseases.
The powdered bark was used as a poultice for treating ulcers, sores, and wounds. A bark
infusion was used for treating fevers, nervous headaches, and swollen joints. The fruits
were used for treating coughs, sore throats, tonsillitis, and mouth sores. This plant also
treated cholera, dropsy, dyspepsia, hemorrhaging, kidney and heart troubles, pneumonia,
tuberculosis, typhoid, and typhus.
The dried bark was listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia (1820-1926) and in the National
Formulary (1926-1947). The fruit was listed in the National Formulary (1916-1947).
Prickly Ash may have a future in modern medicine. It may have antibiotic, antifungal,
and cytotoxic properties.
REFERENCES
MEDICINAL AND OTHER USES OF NORTH AMERICAN PLANTS
By Charlotte Erichsen-Brown
THE BOOK OF FOREST AND THICKET
By John Eastman and Amelia Hansen
TREES OF THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA
By John Laird Farrar
EASTERN/CENTRAL MEDICINAL PLANTS AND HERBS
By Steven Foster and James A. Duke
RECOGNIZING NATIVE SHRUBS
By William Carey Grimm
TREES OF THE EASTERN AND CENTRAL UNITED STATES AND CANADA
By William M. Harlow
101 TREES OF INDIANA
By Marion T. Jackson
MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE HEARTLAND
By Connie Kaye and Neil Billington
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
By Bruce Kershner, Daniel Mathews, Gil Nelson, and Richard Spellenberg
A FIELD GUIDE TO MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Arnold and Connie Krochmal
TREES OF THE CENTRAL HARDWOOD FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Donald C. Leopold, William C. McComb, and Robert N. Muller
THE AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN TREES (EASTERN REGION)
By Elbert L. Little
HOW TO KNOW THE TREES
By Howard A. Miller and H. E. Jaques
AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Charles F. Millspaugh
NATIVE AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Daniel E. Moerman
A NATURAL HISTORY OF TREES OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA
By Donald Culross Peattie
EASTERN TREES
By George A. Petrides
OHIO TREES
By T. Davis Sydnor and William F. Cowen
SHRUBS AND WOODY VINES OF INDIANA AND THE MIDWEST
By Sally S. Weeks and Harmon P. Weeks. Jr.
EARTH MEDICIN EARTH FOOD
By Michael A. Weiner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum_americanum