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Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

 
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

Common name Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Family rutaceae
Life cycle tree (Z7b-9)
Flowers inconspicuous, yellow-green (early spring)
Size 30-40'
Light sun
Cultural notes drought tolerant

Large shrub or small tree in the citrus family, native to the southeastern United States. Young branches are thorny, while on older trees the trunk develops warty projections that give the tree its common name. The species is dioecious; we didn't know if we purchased a boy or a girl, but it must be female: the following spring the flowers gave way to small fruit. The tree is a larval host to the giant swallowtail butterfly, which I finally spotted on this plant after four years in the garden.
The species reportedly suckers, but I didn't notice any such tendencies in our garden. I did find, in the years after planting ours, two or three seedlings in other parts of the backyard. Not sure if those were offspring from our specimen (via bird friends), or random gifts from farther afield.
The profile from the Missouri Botanical Garden (one of the best sources on the web for plant information) reports that Hercules' club has 'somewhat limited ornamental value' – and on the whole, I must agree. Its trunk is interesting, impressive even, but I found the tree overall to be quite sparsely leaved in its later life, and not doing much to beautify its area of the garden.

Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Mid-March: a little later to come back in spring than most other trees...
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
...but once it does, it doesn't waste any time: flower buds a week later
Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Following insignificant flowers, little green fruits like miniature limes
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Softly fuzzy new woody growth
Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Earliest sign of regrowth, mid-March 2019
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
A giant swallowtail caterpillar – not nearly as pretty as its mom
Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Five years in the garden, and indeed the lower trunk is starting to develop more warty protrusions and fewer thorns – but the ones that remain are vicious!
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Two years further along, the trunk is beefier, still with some thorns
Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Cool contrast between the green fruits and their purple stems
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

The demise of the club
Seven years after planting our young tree, it had grown lofty, with a nice view of its trunk, but all the branches and leaves well overhead. And we noticed that there actually weren't all that many leaves – as you can see in the photo here. So, while the tree was satisfyingly native, and impressively fierce-trunked, it didn't do very much for our small garden, where space for woody specimens is rather limited, and all have to play a role in beautifying our outdoors. Alas, we weren't so sure that the Hercules club still fit the bill, especially since we had a few other regionally native small trees that were looking for a spot to live. After a couple weeks of deliberating, the decision was made: Zantho had to go. The act of removing the tree was somewhat hazardous (two weeks later, I still have the gashes in my legs to prove it), but eventually it was wrested to the ground, with smaller branches chipped into bits and the trunk and larger branches cut into firelogs – I'll have to handle my firewood pile with leather gloves from now on! The mass of unruly Speedy Gonzalez rose that had started to use the tree for support likewise needed to be severely hacked back. Near where the Hercules club stood, a new Mexican orchid tree has taken up residence. Let's see how long that one lasts.

Hercules club; southern prickly ash
Operation removal nearly complete...
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Seedling trees try to replace the down momma tree

This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away...

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Last modified: December 31, 2024
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