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Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
The bark is a light grey, thin, with corky-based conical knobs that have a spine when young. The spine drops off with age. The tree is a member of the citrus family.
Bark and leaves contain a chemical compound that produces a numbing sensation in the mouth. Early settlers and Native Americans chewed the leaves to relieve toothaches, and mothers rubbed them on their babies' gums to ease teething pains.
Spotted on May 6, 2012
Submitted on May 8, 2012
2 Comments
The bark and leaves of the tree here was once used to numb toothache pain (hence the nick name "toothache tree". One of my favorites!
This is really interesting and resembles a tree I saw in the rainforest of Liberia. The Liberians also told me that the "thorns" could be crushed for medicinal purposes. Thanks for sharing! The Liberian tree is at http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/109...