''Zanthoxylum capense'', the small knobwood, is a species of plant in the family

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

. It occurs in the eastern regions of southern Africa, from the vicinity of

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

to the Zimbabwean granite shield and coastal Mozambique. It tolerates a range of altitudes, from highveld to coastal elevations, but is most prevalent in dry thickets or on rocky slopes and outcrops. Their trunks are bare apart from the numerous conical knobs that each terminate in a spine. They bear clusters of compound leaves on the tips of their branches. The leaves and fruit are noticeably citrus-scented. The fruit are round capsules of about 5 mm in diameter, fully covered with glands. When they ripen they split open to release a single black and oil-rich seed. It is a host plant for the Citrus swallowtail, White-banded swallowtail and Emperor swallowtail butterflies. Similar species are the larger '' Z. davyi'' which is more limited to the mist belt regions, and '' Z. leprieurii'' that occurs in sand forests of subtropical lowlands. File:Zanthoxylum capense, ryp vrug, Groenkloof NR.jpg, File:Zanthoxylum capense, blaar, Groenkloof NR.jpg,

External references

Zanthoxylum capense, Nature firstZanthoxylum capense, Flora of Zimbabwe
* ttp://www.plantzafrica.com/plantwxyz/zanthoxylumcapense.htm Zanthoxylum capense, PlantZAfrica.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q8066275 Flora of Africa capense