Zanthoxylum

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Rutaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Zanthoxylum

  • Description

    Genus Description - Dioecious shrubs or trees, very often armed with conical prickles; bark usually aromatic. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, trifoliolate or unifoliolate; leaflets with numerous translucent oil glands, with entire or crenate margins; stipules wanting. Rowers unisexual, actinomorphic, 3-5-merous, minute, in axillary or terminal panicles or in congested axillary cymes; calyx deeply lobed, the sepals persistent or deciduous; corolla of free, valvate petals or wanting; stamens 3-5, the filaments free; nectary disk subtending carpels; gynoecium of 1-5 free or basally connate carpels, these immersed in receptacle or stipitate. Fruit of 1-5 follicles, each carrying a single seed.

    Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 250-300 species, of worldwide distribution.