Toothache Tree
Range Map
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Southern Prickly Ash, AKA Hercules' club, Hercules-club, pepperwood, or southern prickly ash, a spiny tree
Chewing on leaves or using thorn to relieve pain from toothache thought to cause sleepiness, decrease swelling, kill bacteria, used for menstrual cramps, blood circulation problems in the legs and in the fingers, ongoing joint pain, toothache, sores, and ulcers. It is also used to “break a fever” by causing sweating
Member of citrus family, crushed leaves can smell slightly like citrus, compound leaves, bark has spiny bumps
Tree at SFA is actually southern prickly ash, and is different from the common prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), which is also called toothache tree
Grove on south end of Copperhead trail, specimens just behind Nature Center building.
