What is "zanthoxylum americanum"

Hercules'-club \Hercules'-club\, Hercules'-club \Hercules'-club\, Hercules-club \Hercules-club\prop. n.

1. (Bot.) A densely spiny ornamental tree ( Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) of the rue family, growing in southeast U. S. and West Indies. [WordNet sense 1]

   Note: It belongs to the same genus as one of the trees ( Zanthoxylum Americanum) called prickly ash.

   Syn: Hercules'-clubs, Hercules-club, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis.

2. A small, prickly, deciduous clump-forming tree or shrub ( Aralia spinosa) of eastern U.S.; also called Angelica tree and prickly ash. [WordNet sense 2]

   Syn: American angelica tree, devil's walking stick, Aralia spinosa.

3. A variety of the common gourd ( Lagenaria vulgaris). Its fruit sometimes exceeds five feet in length.

Ash \Ash\ ([a^]sh), n. [OE. asch, esh, AS. [ae]sc; akin to OHG. asc, Sw. & Dan. ask, Icel. askr, D. esch, G. esche.]

1. (Bot.) A genus of trees of the Olive family, having opposite pinnate leaves, many of the species furnishing valuable timber, as the European ash ( Fraxinus excelsior) and the white ash ( Fraxinus Americana).

   Prickly ash ( Zanthoxylum Americanum) and Poison ash ( Rhus venenata) are shrubs of different families, somewhat resembling the true ashes in their foliage.

   Mountain ash. See Roman tree, and under Mountain.

2. The tough, elastic wood of the ash tree.

   Note: Ash is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound term; as, ash bud, ash wood, ash tree, etc.

Zanthoxylum americanum, the common prickly-ash, common pricklyash, common prickly ash or northern prickly-ash (also sometimes called toothache tree, yellow wood, or suterberry), is an aromatic shrub or small tree native to central and eastern portions of the United States and Canada. It is the northernmost New World species in the citrus ( Rutaceae) family, and is part of the same genus as sichuan pepper. It can grow to tall with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of . It produces membranous leaflets and axillary flower clusters. The wood is not commercially valuable, but oil extracts from the bark have been used in traditional and alternative medicine, and have been studied for antifungal and cytotoxic properties. The genus name is sometimes spelled Xanthoxylum.