''Zanthoxylum nitidum'', commonly known as shiny-leaf prickly-ash, tez-mui (in

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

) or liang mian zhen (in China), is a species of flowering plant in the family

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

. It is a woody climber with prickles on the branchlets, thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches,

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, an ...

leaves with five to nine leaflets, and

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is ...

s or

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the sh ...

s of white to pale yellow, male or female flowers in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets.

Description

''Zanthoxylum nitidum'' is a woody climber with curved prickles on the branchlets and thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches. The leaves are pinnate, long with five to nine egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets. The leaflets are long and wide, the side leaflets

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 ...

or on a petiolule up to long and the end leaflet on a petiolule long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets in panicles or racemes up to long, each flower on a

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 ...

long. The four

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s are long and the four petals white or pale yellow, and long. The flowers are either functionally male or female, the male flowers with four

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s about long and four sterile, finger-like

carpels 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'' ...

. The female flowers lack stamens and have four carpels long. Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is a more or less spherical, red or brown follicle long.

Taxonomy

Shiny-leaf prickly-ash was first formally described in 1824 by

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. ...

who gave it the name ''Fagara nitida'' and published the description in ''Flora Indica, or, descriptions of Indian plants''. In 1824,

de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candoll ...

changed the name to ''Zanthoxylum nitidum'' in his book, ''

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' (1824–1873), also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Prodr. (DC.)'', is a 17-volume treatise on botany initiated by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. De Candolle intended it as a summa ...

''.

Distribution

''Zanthoxylum nitidum'' is found in India, South China, southeast Asia, and northern Australia. In Australia it grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of from the

Daintree River The Daintree River is a river that rises in the Daintree Rainforest near Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river is located about northwest of Cairns in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics of Queensland. The are ...

south to

Rockingham Bay Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia. The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island Goold Isla ...

Uses

''Zanxthoxylum nitidum'' is used as an insecticide and a

piscicide A piscicide is a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. The primary use for piscicides is to eliminate a dominant species of fish in a body of water, as the first step in attempting to populate the body of water with a different fish. They ...

. In India and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, the fruits are used as a

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

.Bhattacharya, Sanjib and Kamaruz Zaman. (2009)
Essential oil composition of fruits and leaves of ''Zanthoxylum nitidum'' grown in upper Assam region of India.
''Pharmacognosy Research'' 1:3 148-51. However, the roots, leaves and fruit are poisonous, with as little as 40g of leaves considered to be a lethal dose. ''Zanthoxylum nitidum'' is one several species of ''Zanthoxylum'' that are used in

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before th ...

in various parts of the world.

Chemical constituents

The plant contains the chemical compounds

nitidine Nitidine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid found in species of the genus '' Zanthoxylum '', notably in '' Zanthoxylum nitidum''. This compound has an anti-malarial activity.Bouquet, J., et al. (2012)Biological activities of nitidine, a potential a ...

, toddalolactone, and

chelerythrine Chelerythrine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid present in the plant '' Chelidonium majus'' (greater celandine). It is a potent, selective, and cell-permeable protein kinase C inhibitor ''in vitro''. And an efficacious antagonist of G-protein-c ...

.Jing, C., Qun, X., and J. Rohrer. (2012)
Determination of nitidine chloride, toddalolactone, and chelerythrine chloride by HPLC
Thermo Fisher Scientific. The essential oil, at least from some varieties, contains

limonene Limonene is a colorless liquid aliphatic hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic monoterpene, and is the major component in the oil of citrus fruit peels. The -isomer, occurring more commonly in nature as the fragrance of oranges, is a flavoring ...

and

geraniol Geraniol is a monoterpenoid and an alcohol. It is the primary component of citronella oil and is a primary component of rose oil, palmarosa oil. It is a colorless oil, although commercial samples can appear yellow. It has low solubility in w ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q8066282 nitidum Plants described in 1824 Taxa named by William Roxburgh Flora of Queensland Flora of India (region) Flora of China Flora of Southeast Asia