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''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'', commonly known as thorny yellowwood, oval-leaf yellow wood or little yellowwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family
''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'', commonly known as thorny yellowwood, oval-leaf yellow wood or little yellowwood, 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 shrub or tree usually with in BoDD – Botanical Der ...
trifoliate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...
leaves, white, male and female flowers arranged in 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 in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets and red, purple or brown follicles.
Description
''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of and often has prickles on its branchlets and thick, conical spines on its older stems. It hastrifoliate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...
leaves long, often with simple leaves on the same twig. The leaflets are elliptical to egg-shaped with the lower end towards the base, long, wide and 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 ...
, the end leaflet sometimes on a petiolule up to long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, on the ends of branchlets, or both, in panicles 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 and about long. Male flowers have 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 long with a sterile, narrow oval carpel
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' ...
about high. Female flowers have a single carpel long, and sometimes rudimentary stamens. Flowering occurs in summer and the fruit is a spherical red, purple or brown follicle wide.
Taxonomy
''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' was first formally described in 1839 byRobert Wight
Robert Wight MD FRS FLS (6 July 1796 – 26 May 1872) was a Scottish surgeon in the East India Company, whose professional career was spent entirely in southern India, where his greatest achievements were in botany – as an economic botani ...
in his book, ''Illustrations of Indian Botany'', from specimens collected in the "Shevagerry hills in flower, and fruit in August and September".
Distribution and habitat
Thorny yellowwood is a widespread species, found from India, through southeast Asia, Malesia, New Guinea, and Queensland. In Australia it occurs between theDaintree 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 ...
and Ravenshoe
Ravenshoe ( ) is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Ravenshoe had a population of 1,400 people.
Geography
Ravenshoe is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. It is located sout ...
, growing in rainforest at altitudes between .
Uses
Timber
Thorny yellowwood is a timber tree valued for its hard, yellowish-white, close-grained wood.Medicinal uses
The fruits of this species are reported to have "astringent, stimulative, and digestive properties".Essential oils
The fruits yield the essential oilsmyrcene
Myrcene, or β-myrcene, is a monoterpene. A colorless oil, it occurs widely in essential oils. It is produced mainly semi-synthetically from ''Myrcia'', from which it gets its name. It is an intermediate in the production of several fragrances. � ...
and safrole
Safrole is an organic compound with the formula CH2O2C6H3CH2CH=CH2. It is a colorless oily liquid, although impure samples can appear yellow. A member of the phenylpropanoid family of natural products, it is found in sassafras plants, among oth ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q11065930 ovalifolium Plants described in 1839 Taxa named by Robert Wight Flora of Queensland Flora of India (region) Flora of China Flora of Southeast Asia