Zanthoxylum fagara
Family: Rutaceae
Plant Description: Prickly evergreen shrub to 3.2 m high. Leaves pinnate, odd, with obovate or oval leaflets, 5-20 mm long, 5-13 leaflets per rachis. Rachis and petioles with numerous curved prickles. Crushed leaves aromatic, alternate. Flowers clustered along the branches, both unisexual and bisexual occurring on the same plant. Petals 2-3 mm long, yellow-green.
Plant Trivia: In Mexican folklore, as the story goes, a wealthy Mexican rancher planted Colima outside the window of his daughter. As the child grew and matured, so did the Colima. By the time she became a teenager, the Colima was a large bush, dense with stems and thousands of small, curved cat-like thorns. This kept her from sneaking out of the house to visit a boy and kept boys from sneaking into her bedroom.
Field Identification: Curved prickles and the citrus odor of the bruised leaves, combined with the winged petioles and rachises, identifies this plant.
Occurrence: Common on various soils, in brushy thickets, motts, and wooded stream beds.
Bloom Period: January – April
Plant Use: Nesting site for several passerine birds, browse for white-tailed deer. Host plant for Giant Swallowtail butterfly.
Key to the other species of Zanthoxylum:
- Leaf rachis winged…………………………………………………………………………Z. fagara
Leaf rachis not winged………………………………………………………………………………..2
2. Leaflets tapered to end or at least pointed………………….Z. clava-herculis
Leaflets mostly blunt or rounded…………………………………………….Z. hirstum
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