Zanthoxylum simulans
| Zanthoxylum simulans | |
| Light: |    |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Cross Pollinated | |
| Height: | 13' |
| Width: | 20' |
| Speed: | Moderate |
| Blooms: | Early Summer |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Zanthoxylum simulans (common name: szechuan pepper)
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 plant has been growing well for many years in deep woodland shade at Cambridge Botanical gardens, it was fruiting heavily in autumn 1996[K].
Cultivated for its seed, which is used as a condiment in China[6][7].
Flowers are formed on the old wood[8].
The bruised leaves are strongly aromatic[9].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.
Range: E. Asia - China.
Habitat: Virgin wilds, hillsides and open woods[10].
Edibility: The fruit is dried and used as a condiment[6][7][11][12]. A pepper flavour, it is stronger and more pungent than black pepper[13]. It can be used whole or ground into a powder and used as a table seasoning[13]. A light roasting brings out more of the flavour[8]. It is an ingredient of the famous Chinese 'five spice' mixture[8].
Medicinal: Astringent, diaphoretic, emmenagogue[14][15].
The pericarp is anaesthetic, diuretic, parasiticide and vasodilator[16]. It is used in the treatment of gastralgia and dyspepsia due to cold with vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, ascariasis and dermal diseases[16]. It has a local anaesthetic action and is parasiticide against the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium)[16].
The pericarp contains geraniol. In small doses this has a mild diuretic action, though large doses will inhibit the excretion of urine[16]. There is a persistent increase in peristalsis at low concentration, but inhibition at high concentration[16].
The leaves are carminative, stimulant and sudorific[10][17].
The fruit is carminative, diuretic, stimulant, stomachic and tonic[10][17].
The seed is antiphlogistic and diuretic[17].
A decoction of the root is digestive and also used in the treatment of snakebites[17].
The resin contained in the bark, and especially in that of the roots, is powerfully stimulant and tonic[18].
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Mid Fall
Flower Type: Dioecious
Also Known As: Z. bungei.
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.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 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 Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Larkcom, Joy. Oriental Vegetables. John Murray, 1991.
- ↑ Genders, Roy. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale, 1994.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province. A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 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.
- ↑ Stuart, George. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei Southern Materials Centre.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Yeung, Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, 1985.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ Sargent, Charles. Manual of the Trees of North America. Dover, 1965.