Zanthoxylum simulans

Zanthoxylum simulans
	Habitus of leafless plant
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Zanthoxylum
Species:	Z. simulans
Binomial name
	Zanthoxylum simulans; Hance
Synonyms
	Zanthoxylum bungei; Zanthoxylum coreanum;

Short description: Species of flowering plant

Zanthoxylum simulans, the Chinese-pepper,^[1] Chinese prickly-ash or flatspine prickly-ash, is a flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, native to eastern China and Taiwan. It is one of several species of Zanthoxylum from which Sichuan pepper is produced.

It is a spreading shrub or small tree growing to 7 m tall. The leaves are 7–12.5 cm long, pinnate, with 7–11 leaflets, the leaflets 3–5 cm long and 1.5–2 cm broad. There are numerous short (3–6 mm) spines on both the stems and the leaf petioles, and large (several cm) knobs on the branches. The flowers are produced in slender cymes, each flower about 4–5 mm diameter. The 3–4 mm berry has a rough reddish brown shell that splits open to release the black seeds from inside.