Zanthoxylum armatum

The plant grows as a woody climber, a shrub or a tree, up to in height. Other anatomically separating features are generally faint secondary veins of leaflet blades, especially adaxially, with 7-15 on each side of midvein; the anthers of the male flowers are yellow before anthesis; and the gynoecium of the female flowers is 1-3-carpelled. Fruit follicles are purplish-red, about 4-5mm in diameter, while the seeds are black and 3-4mm in size. The shrub flowers in China from April to May, and fruits from August to October, in Nepal it flowers during the same months, while the fruit is available all year round. In India, flowering is from March to April. ==Taxonomy==

The species was described by the eminent Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1824. The plant has an accepted infraspecific, Zanthoxylum armatum var. ferrugineum (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) C.C.Huang. ==Distribution==

Zanthoxylum armatum is native to parts of East and Southeast Asia, and the north of the Indian sub-continent. It is naturalised in several regions. Regions where it occurs are: Japan; Nansei-shoto/Ryukyu Islands; Korea; North-Central, South-Central & Southeast China, specifically Anhui, Fujian, South Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, South Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, South Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, and Zhejiang; northern Taiwan; Philippines; Vietnam; Laos; Thailand; Myanmar; Bangladesh; India, including Assam; Bhutan; Nepal; Tibet; the Eastern and Western Himalayas; Kashmir; and Pakistan, and possibly Indonesia. It has been naturalised in Northeast Argentina and the North Caucasus. The variety ferrugineum occurs in North-Central, South-Central & Southeast China, specifically in Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan. ==Habitat & Ecology==

Z. armatum grows in many habitats below 3100m. Birds like the fruits and widely disseminate the plants. ==Vernacular names==

Z. armatum is known by a number of vernacular names. In China, the plant and its fresh berries are known as téngjiāo (), while the dried seeds are known as qinghuajiao () or majiao (). Other names include: Qanadlı zantoksilum (Azerbaijani); Dambara in Pashto, तेजफल tejphal, darmar, tumru, timroo, trimal (Hindi); ꯃꯨꯛꯊ꯭ꯔꯨꯕꯤ মুক্থ্ৰূবী mukthrubi (Manipuri); तिमुर timur (Tamil); konda-kasimi (Telugu); ಜಿಮ್ಮೀ jimmi (Kannada); തൂമ്പണലരി (Malayalam); hokum (Adi); Sẻn gai (Vietnamese); 竹叶花椒 zhúyè huājiāo (Standard Chinese); flügelstachelige Stachelesche (German); and The variety ferrugineum has the name 毛竹叶花椒 máo zhúyè huājiāo in Standard Chinese. ==Uses==

The fruit and seeds of the plant are used as a spice, timut pepper, related to Sichuan pepper, but less pungent, while the bark, fruit and seeds are used in indigenous medicines in India, Nepal and Thailand. ==Further reading==