Zanthoxylum piperitum

Japanese Pepper

Sansho

Japanese Prickly Ash

Botanical description

A deciduous aromatic shrub with a native range from Hokkaido to Kyushu in Japan, southern Korea, and China.^[1]^[11] In spring plants bloom with yellow/green axillary flower clusters approximately 5mm in diameter.^[1]^[11] Dioecious with female plants bearing 5mm diameter green berries with a single large balck seed.^[1] Berries turn scarlet in autumn and burst or spilt open to release the seed.^[1] Branches have pairs of long sharp thorns and odd, pinnately compound leaves alternately arranged, with 5 - 9 pairs of ovate leaflets having crenate (slightly serrated) margins.^[1]

Uses

Toxic parts

Inhibits the synthesis of prostaglandin and, in large doses, is toxic to the central nervous system^[18].

Edible uses

Notes

All above ground parts of Z. piperitum are edible and used as a spice. Most commonly it is the fruit or seed husk (pericarp) and young leaves that are utilized but the bark of the plant is also reported to be used as a spice.^[7]^[16]^[3]

Fruit (seed husk, pericarp)

Dried, ground as a Condiment

Immature fruit

Boiled as a Condiment

Young leaves, shoots

Raw, lightly cooked as a Vegetable, garnish

Flowers

Pickled as a Condiment

Bark

Condiment

Material uses

In Japan the wood of Z. piperitum has traditionally been used to make pestles for use with suribachi mortars (ceramic bowls with a rough pattern etched into the inside surface of the bowl - the name literally means 'grinding-bowl'). The pestle, called surikogi, or 'grind-powder-wood' when made from the wood of Z. piperitum is believed to impart a slight flavour to foods ground in the suribachi. ^[17]^[1]^[13]

The genus name Zanthoxylum or Xanthoxylum comes from the Greek xanthon xylon, meaning blond wood. ^[20]

Wood

Hewed as a Pestle

Medicinal uses(Warning!)

The seed husks are used in the traditional medicines of Japan, Korea and China.^[1]^[18]

Reported ethnobotanical uses of Z. piperitum include the treatment of tuberculosis, dyspepsia (indigestion), internal parasites^[18]^[21], asthma, kidney and bladder complaints, edema, dysentry, ecchymosis, lactorrhea, malaria, polyuria, spermatorrhea, as a carminative, diuretic, parasiticide, preventitive, stimulant, stomachic and poison.^[21]^[22]

Seed husks (pericarp)

Dried as an Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antiperiodic, Antitussive, Carminative, Diuretic, Parasiticide, Stimulant, Stomachic

Resin (bark, roots)

Stimulent, Tonic

Ecology

Ecosystem niche/layer

Shrub

Ecological Functions

Nothing listed.

Forage

Nothing listed.

Shelter

Nothing listed.

Propagation

Suckers, removed in late winter and planted into their permanent positions^[23].

Seed

Best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Stored seed may requires up to 3 - 4 months cold stratification^[11], though scarification may also help^[23]. Sow stored seed in a cold frame as early in the year as possible. Germination should take place in late spring, though it might take another 12 months. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter. Plant them out in early summer.

Rooted cuttings

Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Root cuttings, 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots in a greenhouse. Good percentage^[24].

Cultivation

Easily grown in loamy soils in most positions, but prefers a good deep well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or semi-shade^[6]^[8]^[25].

Crops

The green immature fruits and dried fruits/seed husks are grown commercially for their culinary and medicinal uses.^[1].

Problems, pests & diseases

Associations & Interactions

There are no interactions listed for Zanthoxylum piperitum. Do you know of an interaction that should be listed here? edit this page to add it.

Polycultures & Guilds

There are no polycultures listed which include Zanthoxylum piperitum.

Descendants

Cultivars

Varieties

None listed.

Subspecies

None listed.

Full Data

This table shows all the data stored for this plant.

References

? ^1.00^1.01^1.02^1.03^1.04^1.05^1.06^1.07^1.08^1.09^1.10^1.11^1.12^1.13 [Zanthoxylum piperitum] Wikipedia (2013/03/23)
? [Schichimi] Wikipedia (2013/03/27)
? ^3.0^3.1^3.2 Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. ISBN 0-7513-020-31 (32202/01/01)
? [Five-spice powder] Wikipedia (2013/03/27)
? ^5.0^5.1 Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 (32202/01/01)
? ^6.0^6.1 F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press (32202/01/01)
? ^7.0^7.1^7.2 Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-20459-6 (32202/01/01)
? ^8.0^8.1 Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray (32202/01/01)
? Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press (32202/01/01)
? ^10.0^10.1 Workman, Dion [May Eat] Shikigami (2013/03/27)
? ^11.0^11.1^11.2^11.3^11.4^11.5^11.6 Crawford, Martin. Creating a Forest Garden: Working with nature to grow edible crops. Green Books ISBN 978-1-900322-62-1 (2010/03/01)
? Workman, Dion. [First Fruits] Shikigami (2013/03/28)
? ^13.0^13.1^13.2^13.3 Facciola, Stephen Cornucopia II: A source book of edible plants. Kampong ISBN 978-0-9628087-2-2 (1998/03/01)
? Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books ISBN 3874292169 (32202/01/01)
? Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre (32202/01/01)
? ^16.0^16.1 Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing (32202/01/01)
? ^17.0^17.1 [Suribachi] Wikipedia (2013/03/30)
? ^18.0^18.1^18.2^18.3^18.4^18.5 Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea World Health Organisation, Manila ISBN 92 9061 120 0 (32202/01/01)
? Sargent. C. S. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications Inc. New York. ISBN 0-486-20278-X (32202/01/01)
? [Sichuan pepper] Wikipedia (2013/03/30)
? ^21.0^21.1 Duke, James. [Zanthoxylum piperitum - Ethnobotanical Uses] Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases (2013/04/02)
? Stuart. Rev. G. A. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre ()
? ^23.0^23.1 Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press ISBN 0942375009 (32202/01/01)
? Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co (32202/01/01)
? Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press ISBN 0-333-47494-5 (32202/01/01)
? Jacke, Dave & Toensmeier, Eric. Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological design and practice for temperate climate permaculture. Volume II. Chelsea Green ISBN 978-1-931498-80-7 (2013/03/01)

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"image:Zanthoxylum piperitum2.jpg|248px" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki.

[Wikipedia-1] ? ^1.00^1.01^1.02^1.03^1.04^1.05^1.06^1.07^1.08^1.09^1.10^1.11^1.12^1.13 [Zanthoxylum piperitum] Wikipedia (2013/03/23)

[Wikipedia2-2] ? [Schichimi] Wikipedia (2013/03/27)

[PFAFimport-238-3] ? ^3.0^3.1^3.2 Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. ISBN 0-7513-020-31 (32202/01/01)

[Wikipedia3-4] ? [Five-spice powder] Wikipedia (2013/03/27)

[PFAFimport-183-5] ? ^5.0^5.1 Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-1-6] ? ^6.0^6.1 F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-2-7] ? ^7.0^7.1^7.2 Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-20459-6 (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-11-8] ? ^8.0^8.1 Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-34-9] ? Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press (32202/01/01)

[Shikigami-10] ? ^10.0^10.1 Workman, Dion [May Eat] Shikigami (2013/03/27)

[CFG-11] ? ^11.0^11.1^11.2^11.3^11.4^11.5^11.6 Crawford, Martin. Creating a Forest Garden: Working with nature to grow edible crops. Green Books ISBN 978-1-900322-62-1 (2010/03/01)

[Shikigami2-12] ? Workman, Dion. [First Fruits] Shikigami (2013/03/28)

[Corn-13] ? ^13.0^13.1^13.2^13.3 Facciola, Stephen Cornucopia II: A source book of edible plants. Kampong ISBN 978-0-9628087-2-2 (1998/03/01)

[PFAFimport-177-14] ? Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books ISBN 3874292169 (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-179-15] ? Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-105-16] ? ^16.0^16.1 Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing (32202/01/01)

[Wikipedia4-17] ? ^17.0^17.1 [Suribachi] Wikipedia (2013/03/30)

[PFAFimport-279-18] ? ^18.0^18.1^18.2^18.3^18.4^18.5 Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea World Health Organisation, Manila ISBN 92 9061 120 0 (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-82-19] ? Sargent. C. S. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications Inc. New York. ISBN 0-486-20278-X (32202/01/01)

[Wikipedia5-20] ? [Sichuan pepper] Wikipedia (2013/03/30)

[Duke-21] ? ^21.0^21.1 Duke, James. [Zanthoxylum piperitum - Ethnobotanical Uses] Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases (2013/04/02)

[PFAFimport-178-22] ? Stuart. Rev. G. A. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre ()

[PFAFimport-113-23] ? ^23.0^23.1 Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press ISBN 0942375009 (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-78-24] ? Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co (32202/01/01)

[PFAFimport-200-25] ? Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press ISBN 0-333-47494-5 (32202/01/01)

[EFG-26] ? Jacke, Dave & Toensmeier, Eric. Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological design and practice for temperate climate permaculture. Volume II. Chelsea Green ISBN 978-1-931498-80-7 (2013/03/01)

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Article is incomplete	No +
Article requires citations	No +
Article requires cleanup	No +
Belongs to family	Rutaceae +
Belongs to genus	Zanthoxylum +
Can be grown from cutting type	Semi-ripe + and Root +
Has common name	Japanese Pepper +, Sansho + and Japanese Prickly Ash +
Has drought tolerance	Intolerant +
Has edible part	Fruit (seed husk +, Pericarp) +, Immature fruit +, Young leaves +, Shoots +, Flowers + and Bark +
Has edible use	Seasoning +, Vegetable + and Garnish +
Has fertility type	Self sterile +
Has flowers of colour	yellow + and green +
Has flowers of type	Dioecious +
Has hardiness zone	6 +
Has image	Zanthoxylum piperitum2.jpg +
Has lifecycle type	Perennial +
Has material part	Wood +
Has material use	Pestle +
Has mature height	2 +
Has mature width	2 +
Has medicinal part	Seed husks (pericarp) +, Resin (bark + and Roots) +
Has medicinal use	Antibacterial +, Antifungal +, Antiperiodic +, Antitussive +, Carminative +, Diuretic +, Parasiticide +, Stimulant +, Stomachic +, Stimulent + and Tonic +
Has primary image	Zanthoxylum piperitum2.jpg +
Has search name	zanthoxylum piperitum + and x +
Has seed requiring scarification	No +
Has seed requiring stratification	Yes +
Has shade tolerance	Partial shade +
Has soil ph preference	Acid +, Neutral + and Alkaline +
Has soil teclayture preference	Clay +
Has soil teloamyture preference	Loamy +
Has soil tesandyture preference	Sandy +
Has soil water retention preference	Well drained +
Has sun preference	Full sun +
Has taxonomy name	Zanthoxylum piperitum +
Has water requirements	moderate +
Inhabits ecosystem niche	Shrub +
Is deciduous or evergreen	Deciduous +
Is grown from	Seeds +, Cutting + and Suckers +
Is herbaceous or woody	Woody +
Is taxonomy type	Species +
Native to environment	Forest edges +, Thickets + and Scrubland +
Native to geographical range	East Asia: Japan +, Korea + and China +
Tolerates air pollution	No +
Tolerates maritime exposure	No +
Tolerates nutritionally poor soil	No +
Tolerates wind	No +

Botanical description

Uses

Toxic parts

Edible uses

Notes

Fruit (seed husk, pericarp)

Dried, ground as a Condiment

Immature fruit

Boiled as a Condiment

Young leaves, shoots

Raw, lightly cooked as a Vegetable, garnish

Flowers

Pickled as a Condiment

Bark

Condiment

Material uses

Wood

Hewed as a Pestle

Medicinal uses(Warning!)

Seed husks (pericarp)

Dried as an Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antiperiodic, Antitussive, Carminative, Diuretic, Parasiticide, Stimulant, Stomachic

Resin (bark, roots)

Stimulent, Tonic

Ecology

Ecosystem niche/layer

Ecological Functions

Forage

Shelter

Propagation

Seed

Rooted cuttings

Cultivation

Crops

Problems, pests & diseases

Associations & Interactions

Polycultures & Guilds

Descendants

Cultivars

Varieties

Subspecies

Full Data

References

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