Zanthoxylum ovalifolium
| Thorny yellowwood | |
|---|---|
| |
| Female flowers | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Zanthoxylum |
| Species: | Z. ovalifolium
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| Binomial name | |
| Zanthoxylum ovalifolium | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
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Zanthoxylum ovalifolium, commonly known as thorny yellowwood, oval-leaf yellow wood or little yellowwood,[3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is a shrub or tree usually with trifoliate leaves, white, male and female flowers arranged in panicles in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets and red, purple or brown follicles.
Description[edit]
Zanthoxylum ovalifolium is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of 8 m (26 ft) and often has prickles on its branchlets and thick, conical spines on its older stems. It has trifoliate leaves 75–210 mm (3.0–8.3 in) long, often with simple leaves on the same twig. The leaflets are elliptical to egg-shaped with the lower end towards the base, 60–180 mm (2.4–7.1 in) long, 25–70 mm (0.98–2.76 in) wide and sessile, the end leaflet sometimes on a petiolule up to 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, on the ends of branchlets, or both, in panicles up to 120 mm (4.7 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long. The four sepals are 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long and the four petals white and about 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long. Male flowers have four stamens 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long with a sterile, narrow oval carpel about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) high. Female flowers have a single carpel 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long, and sometimes rudimentary stamens. Flowering occurs in summer and the fruit is a spherical red, purple or brown follicle 6.5 mm (0.26 in) wide.[3][4][5]
Taxonomy[edit]
Zanthoxylum ovalifolium was first formally described in 1839 by Robert Wight in his book, Illustrations of Indian Botany, from specimens collected in the "Shevagerry hills in flower, and fruit in August and September".[6][7]
Distribution and habitat[edit]
Thorny yellowwood is a widespread species, found from India, through southeast Asia, Malesia, New Guinea, and Queensland. In Australia it occurs between the Daintree River and Ravenshoe, growing in rainforest at altitudes between 100 and 1,260 m (330 and 4,130 ft).[3][4]
Uses[edit]
Timber[edit]
Thorny yellowwood is a timber tree valued for its hard, yellowish-white, close-grained wood.[8]
Medicinal uses[edit]
The fruits of this species are reported to have "astringent, stimulative, and digestive properties".[8]
Essential oils[edit]
The fruits yield the essential oils myrcene and safrole.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T147027589A147027591. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". Australian Plant Census. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ a b c F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ^ a b Hartley, Thomas G. (2013). Annette J.G. Wilson (ed.). Flora of Australia (Volume 26). Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. p. 78. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ Tutcher, William James (1 July 1905). "Descriptions of some New Species and Notes on other Chinese Plants". Journal of the Linnean Society. 37 (258): 64.
Zanthoxylum ovalifolium, Wight? Specimens of, apparently, this species were found on the southern slope of Mt. Parker in April, 1903. They differ from the description of Z. ovalifolium in the rusty-tomentose inflorescence and much thinner (papery) leaves.
- ^ "Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". APNI. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ Wight, Robert (1839). Illusrations of Indian Botany. Madras: J. B. Pharoah for the author,1840-1850. p. 169. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ a b "47829 Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported. 51: 65. 15 March 1922. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ^ "Zanthoxylum ovalifolium". Useful Tropical Plants. Retrieved 12 September 2021.