Hercule's Club

Description:

A spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows to 10–17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps 2–3 cm long on the bark. On this mature tree, the lumps on the lower part of the trunk have grown together forming ridges.

Habitat:

Lewisville Independent School District Outdoor Learning Area) is an eighty-acre tract of land located on the south side of Lake Lewisville Dam in Denton County. The landscape boasts wetlands, forests, fields, rivers and streams and contains approximately five miles of hiking trails. The outdoor learning area was created in the fall of 1999 when the school district erected two portable classrooms.

Notes:

Along with the related Zanthoxylum americanum, it is sometimes called "toothache tree" or "tingle tongue" because of the numbness of the mouth, teeth, and tongue induced by chewing on its leaves or bark (thus relieving toothache). It was used for such medicinal purposes by both Native Americans and early settlers.