Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Texas prickly ash

Look what we identified on our property out of town! This is a Zanthoxylum hirsutum, commonly called a lot of names, including Texas Hercules' club, Texas prickly ask, prickly ash, toothache tree, tickle-tongue, and tingle-tongue. We didn't try tasting it (would have numbed our tongue; hence, the name), but we did crush and smell a leaf. Hmmmm! We agree with Wildflower.org: "Crushed leaves have an odor suggestive of orange peel."  

1 comment:

TexasDeb said...

What lovely contract between the neatly outlined curly leaves and the reddish stems. This one's a beauty!

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