The [FRUIT] is a [pod] from 3 to 5 inches long containing 4 to 8 small hard seeds which ripen late in the fall. The pod splits open during the winter, discharging most of the seeds. Some seeds usually remain attached to each half of the pod.
The WOOD is yellow, coarse-grained, heavy, very hard, strong, and durable in contact with the soil. It is used extensively for fence posts, poles, tree nails, insulator pins, and occasionally for lumber and fuel.
HERCULES-CLUB (Prickly-Ash)
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L.
This tree is a native of East Texas and ranges westerly to the valley of the Colorado River and northward to Dallas and Tarrant Counties, and to some extent to the Rio Grande Valley. It is a small tree, seldom over 30 feet in height, with a short trunk usually under 1 foot in diameter. It seems to prefer a well-drained, light, sandy soil, and is often found growing on bluffs near rivers.
HERCULES-CLUB (Leaf and [fruit], one-half natural size; spines natural size)
The [BARK] is the most characteristic feature of this tree. It is gray, and with numerous corky tubercles. The [aromatic] inner bark, with its strong [pungent] juice, has given this tree a number of local names, such as “tingle-tongue”, and “toothache tree.” The inner bark was a favorite in old-time home remedies for the relief of toothache.
The LEAVES are [compound], 5 to 8 inches long, with 7 to 17 [ovate], toothed, bright green [leaflets].
The small, pale green FLOWERS, borne in loose, wide-branched cymes, 4 to 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, [bloom] in early spring when the leaves are almost half grown. The small [FRUIT], a one-seeded [carpel], ripens in early summer. The seeds hang outside the carpels and are eaten by birds.
The soft, light brown WOOD has no special known value.