Zanthoxylum piperitum
| Zanthoxylum piperitum | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Cross Pollinated | |
| Height: | 7' |
| Width: | 7' |
| Blooms: | Mid Spring-Early Summer |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Zanthoxylum piperitum (common name: japanese pepper tree)
Propagation: Seed - best sown in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Stored seed may requires up to 3 months cold stratification, though scarification may also help[1]. 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.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame.
Root cuttings, 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots in a greenhouse. Good percentage[2].
Suckers, removed in late winter and planted into their permanent positions[1].
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[3][4][5].
A very ornamental plant[3], it is hardy to about -15°c[6].
Flowers are formed on the old wood[7].
The bruised leaves are amongst the most powerfully aromatic of all leaves[8].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required. Self-sown seedlings have occasionally been observed growing in bare soil under the parent plant[K].
Range: E. Asia - N. China, Japan, Korea.
Habitat: Scrub and hedges in hills and mountains in Japan[9][6].
Edibility: Seed - cooked. It is ground into a powder and used as a condiment, a pepper substitute[3][10][4][11][12]. The fruit can also be used[13]. It is often heated in order to bring out its full flavour and can be mixed with salt for use as a table condiment[12]. The ground and dry-roasted fruit is an ingredient of the Chinese 'five spice powder'[14].
The bark and leaves are used as a spice[10][15][14].
Young leaves - raw or cooked. They are used in soups or as a flavouring in salads[16][17][12].
Medicinal: Antiperiodic, antitussive, carminative, diuretic, parasiticide, stimulant[18].
The fruit contains a essential oil, flavonoids and isoquinoline alkaloids[19]. It is anthelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal and stomachic[19]. It inhibits the synthesis of prostaglandin and, in larger doses, is toxic to the central nervous system[19]. It is used in Korea in the treatment of tuberculosis, dyspepsis and internal parasites[19].
The resin contained in the bark, and especially in that of the roots, is powerfully stimulant and tonic[20].
Notes: If we bought in seed we could supply in the year it germinated.
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Flower Type: Dioecious
Also Known As: Fagara piperita.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dirr, Michael and Charles Heuser. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press, 1987.
- ↑ Sheat, Wilfrid. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. St Martin, 1948.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bean, William. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Murray, 1981.
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Phillips, Roger and Martyn Rix. Shrubs. Pan Books, 1989.
- ↑ Larkcom, Joy. Oriental Vegetables. John Murray, 1991.
- ↑ Genders, Roy. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale, 1994.
- ↑ Ohwi, Jisaburo. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Institution, 1965.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Nicholson, Barbara and Stephen Harrison. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press, 1975.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1986.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Bown, Deni. Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopaedia of Herbs and Their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Read, Bernard. Famine Foods Listed in the Chiu Huang Pen Ts'ao. Taipei Southern Materials Centre, 1977.
- ↑ Stuart, George. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei Southern Materials Centre.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea. World Health Organisation, 1998.
- ↑ Sargent, Charles. Manual of the Trees of North America. Dover, 1965.