Winged Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum planispinum)
At a glance
- Lifecycle
- Perennial (hardy)
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −23.3 °C
Cultivation
Prefers a good deep well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or semi-shade. A very ornamental plant. Fruits are freely produced after a hot summer. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.
Propagation
Seed - best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Stored seed may requires up to 3 months cold stratification, though scarification may also help. Sow stored seed in a cold frame as early in the year as possible. Germination should take place in late spring, though it might take another 12 months. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter. Plant them out in early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Root cuttings, 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots in a greenhouse. Good percentage. Suckers, removed in late winter and planted into their permanent positions.
Edible uses
Seed - cooked. It can be ground into a powder and used as a condiment. Young leaves are eaten. No further details are given.
Medicinal uses
The seeds and roots are stomachic and vermifuge. The resin contained in the bark, and especially in that of the roots, is powerfully stimulant and tonic.
Habitat
Low mountains in Japan.
Native range
E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.