''Zanthoxylum davyi'', the forest knobwood, is a
dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...
species of
plant
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...
in the family
Rutaceae
The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rue[RUTACEAE](_blank)
in BoDD – Botanical Der ...
. It is native to the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
, western
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its ...
and eastern
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
. It occurs in coastal and mistbelt forests, and grows some 10 to 24 m tall.
Bole and bark
Their sturdy, straight trunks are heavily armed with hornlike knobs.
[
]
Foliage and flowers
The compound leaves are 5 to 30 cm long.[
]
Species interactions and uses
Birds eat the fruit.[
]
Similar species
Similar species are the smaller '' Z. capense'' which occurs in mostly dryer inland regions, and '' Z. leprieurii'' which is native to sand forests of subtropical lowlands.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15395775
Flora of Africa
davyi