''Zanthoxylum molle'' () is a woody plant from the

Rutaceae The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in BoDD – Botanical Derm ...

family.

Description

''Z. molle'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree with a height of 10 meters. The bark is brown and black. The tender branches are dark, purplish red. The stems have sharp spikes. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

rachis and the tops of the branches are scattered, with many short, straight thorns. The

pith Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other ...

of the tender branches is large and hollow. The leaf shafts are round and often short-haired. The leaves have 13-19 small leaves, usually 5-11 that are born on the top branchlets. The small leaves are opposite, almost

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. They are thick, broad oval or elliptical in shape, sometimes round. They are 8-15 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, sharply pointed at the top, round or slightly heart-shaped at the base, symmetrical on both sides, sparsely slanted on one side, whole or with finely cracked teeth. The midrib is sunken in the leaf surface, which has 11-17 side veins on each side , The back of the leaf is densely covered with white-gray or yellow-gray felt-like hairs, and the oil spots are not obvious or sparse, which can be seen under the enlarged lens. The inflorescence is terminal and multi-flowered; the total

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

often has sharp spines; the

is light purple-red, densely short-haired; 5 sepals and petals are each; petals are white, 2-3 mm long; the

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

of the male flower is about as long as the petals, Top and lobed. Female flowers have extremely short

staminodes In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & C ...

and 3 carpels. The stalk and lobular petals are light purple-red, light yellowish gray to gray-brown after drying, without awn tip at the top, 4-5 mm in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

. They have many oil spots, and are dented after drying. The seed diameter is 3.5-4 mm. The inner cortex of the bark is light brown-yellow; the wood is light yellow-white. The flowering period is from June to August, fruiting from October to November.

Habitat

''Z. molle'' is native to South

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

). It is found in

dry forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

or bushes in hilly areas 100-700 meters above sea level.

Applications

The bark is used as "sea tong bark" (see Chinese

Zanthoxylum bungeanum ''Zanthoxylum bungeanum '' is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. It is one of the sources of the spice Sichuan pepper. The plant is native to North-Central China, South-Central China, Southeast China, East Himalayas The Himalayas ...

). The leaf contains 0.1%

volatile oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

; the

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

contains 0.45%.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q11095028

molle MOLLE (pronounced ,, homophonic with the name Molly) is an acronym for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. It is used to define the current generation of load-bearing equipment and backpacks used by a number of NATO armed forces, espe ...