Zanthoxylum (including genusFagara) is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs in the citrus or rue family, Rutaceae, native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. Several of the species have yellow heartwood, to which their generic name alludes.
The fruit of several species is used to make the spice, Sichuan pepper. They are also used as bonsai trees. Historically, the bark was widely used for toothache, colic, and rheumatism. Common names include "prickly ash" and "Hercules club".
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Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC. – Cape yellowwood, Indian ivy-rue, Indian Pepper (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam)
Zanthoxylum rhodoxylum (Urb.) P. Wilson
Zanthoxylum rhoifolium Lam. (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela)
Eleutherococcus trifoliatus (L.) S.Y.Hu (as Z. trifoliatum L.)
Melicope lunu-ankenda (Gaertn.) T.G.Hartley (as Z. roxburghianum Cham.)
Melicope pteleifolia (Champ. ex Benth.) T.G.Hartley (as Z. pteleifolium Champ. ex Benth.)
Taxonomy
The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek words ξανθός (xanthos), meaning "yellow," and ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood." It refers to a yellow dye made from the roots of some species. The Takhtajan system places the genus in the subfamily Rutoideae, tribe Zanthoxyleae, while Germplasm Resources Information Network places it in the subfamily Toddalioideae and does not assign it to a tribe. The once separate genus Fagara is now included in Zanthoxylum.
Uses
Many Zanthoxylum species make excellent bonsai and in temperate climates they can be grown quite well indoors. Zanthoxylum beecheyanum and Zanthoxylum piperitum are two species commonly grown as bonsai.
Culinary use
Spices are made from a number of species in this genus, especially Zanthoxylum piperitum, Z. simulans, Z. bungeanum, Z. schinifoliumZ. nitidum, Z. rhetsa, Z. alatum, and Z. acanthopodium. Sichuan pepper is most often made by grinding the husks that surround Z. piperitum berries. In the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa in Western India, the berries of Z. rhetsa are sun-dried and added to foods such as legumes and fish. Because the trees bear fruit during the monsoon season, the berries are associated with the concurrent Krishna Janmashtami festival.
It is called timur or timbur in Nepal, Darjeeling, and Sikkim and is used widely to make a tingling dip, especially for boiled food like potatoes and yams.
Chemistry
Plants in the genus Zanthoxylum contain the lignan sesamin.
Species identified in Nigeria contains several types of alkaloids including benzophenanthridines (nitidine, dihydronitidine, oxynitidine, fagaronine, dihydroavicine, chelerythrine, dihydrochelerythrine, methoxychelerythrine, norchelerythrine, oxychelerythrine, decarine and fagaridine), furoquinolines (dictamine, 8-methoxydictamine, skimmianine, 3-dimethylallyl-4-methoxy-2-quinolone), carbazoles (3-methoxycarbazole, glycozoline), aporphines (berberine, tembetarine, magnoflorine, M-methyl-corydine), canthinones (6-canthinone), acridones (1-hydroxy-3-methoxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, 1-hydroxy-10-methylacridon-9-one, zanthozolin), and aromatic and aliphatic amides. Hydroxy-alpha sanshool is a bioactive component of plants from the Zanthoxylum genus, including the Sichuan pepper.
Ecology
Zanthoxylum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Engrailed (moth).
