Prickly ash thumbnail
Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Common
Name

Scientific
Name

Plant
Family

Garden
Location

Prime
Season
Prickly-ash
Zanthoxylum americanum P. Mill.
Rue (Rutaceae)
Woodland
Late April to May
Other names and notes
(Common Prickly-ash, Northern Prickly Ash, Toothache Tree). Prickly-ash is a native tall shrub, growing to 25 feet in height with a trunk of up to 6" in diameter. Leaves are alternate, oddly pinnate of usually 5 to 11 ovate leaflets on very short stalks, dark green above and lighter under with light fine hair when young. Flowers are greenish-yellow, about 1-1/2" wide, appearing in a cluster on the previous season's wood. They open before the leaves. Flowers have 4 or 5 petals, 2 to 5 pistils and no calyx. These flowers mature to a capsule, turning from green to reddish-brown in the autumn. The capsules split open when mature and the single black seed hangs from the open capsule (similar to Bittersweet or Wahoo). The bark is dark brown with good sized (up to 13mm long) prickles. Twigs are aromatic with a fragrance of lemon peel when crushed. It grows in woods and thickets and tolerates some shade and dryer upland soils. It has a suckering habit, but no insect or disease problems. The wood is a light brown or deep yellow color, and the genus name comes from xanthos and xylon meaning "yellow wood".
Prickly Ash tree
Prickly Ash Flower
Above: The shrub with mature seed capsules in Autumn. Photo ©Merel R. Black, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.
Above: The greenish-yellow flowers appearing in a cluster on the prior season wood. Photo ©Christopher Noll, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.
Below: The pinnate leaf with an odd leaflet number
Below: The thorns of Prickly-ash.
Prickly Ash leaf
Prickly ash thorn
 
 

Notes: Prickly-ash is not indigenous to the Garden area but was planted later. It was present in the Garden at the time of Martha Crone's 1951 Garden census and on later census lists. The western range of Prickly ash in North American is the Dakotas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma north/south line and from there eastward to the coast excepting only Mississippi and Manitoba in the north. In Minnesota it is found in almost all counties except the far northern tier and the arrowhead. A few scattered exceptions elsewhere. It is on the endangered list in 4 eastern states.

Medicinal uses: There is a fair amount of literature on the historic medicinal use of this plant. The root, bark and berries are the official ingredients, having been listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Bark infusions were used for treating skin problems, swollen joints, back pain, fevers and more. Crushed root was used to treat fever. Bark poultices were used for rheumatism and sharp pains. Infusions of the berries were used to treat hemorrhage, as a cough syrup or to treat other issues. The common name "toothache tree" comes from the use of the bark, beaten or powdered, and packed around an aching tooth. In Minnesota, Densmore (Ref. #5) in her study of the Minnesota Chippewa, reported on two uses: A decoction of the root was used internally for quinzy and swelled throat (also taken as a gargle); second, a decoction of the root was used as a bath to strengthen the legs and feed of a weakly child, especially if the limbs were partly paralyzed. See Hutchins and Mrs. Grieve references for more information.

  
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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.  
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