Zanthoxylum alatum f. ferrugineum Rehder & E.H.Wilson
Zanthoxylum planispinum f. ferrugineum (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) C.C.Huang
Zanthoxylum armatum, also called winged prickly ash or rattan pepper in English, is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is an aromatic, deciduous, spiny shrub growing to 3.5 metres (11 ft) in height, endemic from Pakistan across to Southeast Asia and up to Korea and Japan. It is one of the sources of the spice Sichuan pepper, and also used in folk medicine, essential oil production and as an ornamental garden plant.
Description
The plant grows as a woody climber, a shrub or a tree, up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) in height.[4][5] It is deciduous, with subsessile, opposite leaves of lanceolate, obovate or elliptic shape. Branchlets and leaves have prickles/spines. The young branchlets and inflorescence rachises are glabrous or the young branches are sparsely pubescent. The rachis of the leaves is pubescent glabrous or rust-colored and has wings to 6 mm on each side, hence it common English name, this is one of the anatomical features distinguishing it from other Zanthoxylum species.[6] Other anatomically separating features are generally faint secondary veins of leaflet blades, especially adaxially, with 7-15 on each side of midvein; the anthers of the male flowers are yellow before anthesis; and the gynoecium of the female flowers is 1-3-carpelled. Fruit follicles are purplish-red, about 4-5mm in diameter, while the seeds are black and 3-4mm in size. The shrub flowers in China from April to May, and fruits from August to October, in Nepal it flowers during the same months, while the fruit is available all year round. In India, flowering is from March to April.[7]
The plant has an accepted infraspecific, Zanthoxylum armatum var. ferrugineum (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) C.C.Huang.[1] This variety has rust-coloured pubescent young branchlets and inflorescence rachises distinguishing it from the nominative variety.[4][9]
The variety ferrugineum occurs in North-Central, South-Central & Southeast China, specifically in Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan.[3][9]
The fruit and seeds of the plant are used as a spice, timut pepper, related to Sichuan pepper,[13] but less pungent, while the bark, fruit and seeds are used in indigenous medicines in India, Nepal and Thailand.[7][14][5] The plant is also a source of an essential oil, Wartara Oil, and the shrub is also grown as an ornamental garden plant.
In the Salyan district of Nepal, the parts used in medicine are harvested primarily of export to India. The plants grow in state-controlled, community-controlled and private lands, resulting in a variety of access regimes, harvesting regimes and management practices, leading to a conclusion that in general the effects of supply and demand on Non-timber forest products (NTFP) cannot be generalised, but are specific to each product and place.[5]
Additional information is contained in the following:[1][14]
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McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Nasir, E. & Ali, S.I. (eds.) (1970-1995). Flora of West Pakistan 1-131.
Nobis, M. & al. (2019). Contribution to the flora of Asian and European countries: new national and regional vascular plant records, 8 Botany Letters 166: 153-188.
Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
Walters, S. M. et al., eds. 1986-2000. European garden flora.
Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2008). Flora of China 11: 1-622. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).
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