Hercules' Club
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Summary 7
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Hercules' club, Hercules-club, pepperwood, or southern prickly ash) is a spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows to 10–17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps 2–3 cm long on the bark. The leaves are glabrous and leathery, pinnately compound, 20–30 cm long with 7-19 leaflets, each leaflet 4–5 cm long. The flowers are dioecious, in panicles up to 20 cm long, each flower small, 6–8 mm
Habitat 8
Comments: Zanthoxylum clava-herculis is considered "endemic" to the eastern coastal plain of the U.S. (Porter 1976). This species has been found growing under open and shaded conditions at low elevations. It tends to establish on sandy soils and in habitats such as dry to mesic dunes, pine barens, sandhills, and woodlands.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Mary Keim, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/38514062@N03/4921111125
- (c) Nicholas Cowey, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nicholas Cowey
- (c) Cosmic Cat, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Cosmic Cat
- (c) Lauren Flesher, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Lauren Flesher
- (c) Dan Johnson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Dan Johnson
- (c) Nate Hartley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nate Hartley
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum_clava-herculis
- (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29003366
More Info
- iNat taxon page
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- BOLD Systems BIN search
- eFloras.org
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- USDA PLANTS database
- World Flora Online
