Synonyms: Xanthoxylum americanum P. Mill.

Description: Shrub, sometimes a small tree, to 8 m tall. Bark gray to brown with light patches, smooth, developing shallow grooves with age. Twigs gray to brown, smooth, with two 6 mm long flattened prickles at each node. Buds 4 - 6 mm long, rounded, red, wooly. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, 10 - 30 cm long, with 5 - 11 leaflets. Leaflets 2 - 7.5 cm long, 1 - 3.8 cm wide, egg-shaped, margins entire or finely toothed with yellow glands between teeth, dull green and slightly wrinkled above, paler with hairs along the veins below. Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious), borne in small clusters on previous year's growth, tiny, yellow-green. Fruit is a fleshy capsule, 4 - 6 mm in diameter, green to red-brown, spherical, pitted, splitting along one side to reveal one or two small, black, oily seeds. Most plant parts are aromatic when crushed.

Similar Species: Zanthoxylum americanum can be distinguished by its aromatic plant parts, twigs with 2 flattened prickles at each node, pinnately compound leaves with 5 - 11 leaflets, and red-brown, spherical capsules that split along one side to reveal 1 or 2 black seeds.

Flowering: Mid-April to early June.

Habitat and Ecology: Common on slopes in open or grazed woods and along the edges of woods, where it forms thickets.

Notes: This species was used by Native Americans to treat toothaches, colic, gonorrhea, rheumatism, fevers, sore throats, and ulcers. Bees collect nectar from the flowers, while birds and small mammals eat the fruit.

Etymology: Zanthoxylum comes from the Greek words xanthos, meaning yellow, and xylon, meaning wood, referring to the yellow heartwood. Americanum means from America.

Regional Status: Native.