Common Pricklyash

Common Pricklyash

Zanthoxylum americanum

Here's something interesting.  The Native Americans are reported to have used the bark of this tree to relieve toothaches, hence its other common name - Toothache Tree.

On the other hand, the only writing I could find by someone that had actually tried it stated that it wasn't very effective.  Constantine Rafinesque wrote in his "Manual of Medical Botany of the United States" - "In toothache, it is only a palliative, as I have ascertained on myself, the burning sensation which it produces on the mouth, merely mitigating the other pain, which returns afterwards."  I suppose that the burning in your mouth takes your mind of the toothache.

This tree is most impressive when it fruits.  The berries grow in bunches and each fruit is a red capsule with a black seed that bulges out of its covering.  I'm not sure if these are considered "berries" or not.


The seeds stick out of their pods, looking like little eyeballs

The flowers aren't nearly as showy as the berries

The prickers grow in pairs where the leaf attaches to the stem

The leaves are compound and look like Ash leaves, hence Pricklyash