30 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



106. XANTHOXYLUM CLAVA-HERCULIS, L. 



PRICKLY ASH, SEA ASH, TOOTHACHE TREE, PEPPER-WOOD. 



Ger., Escfienbldttriger GelWwlz ; Fr., Frene des epines ; Sp., Jantoxaro. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves late-deciduous, mostly glabrous, 5-8 in. long, with 

 leaf -stalk armed with prickles and 3-8 pairs of ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaflets be- 

 sides the terminal one, l-2 in. long, oblique and often falcate, shining above, 

 crenulate-serrate and sessile or nearly so. Flowers in large terminal cymes, 4-5 in. 

 long, appearing when the leaves are about half -grown, on slender pedicels; sepals 

 5, minute, persistent; petals 5, white to % in. in length ; pistils 3-5, with short 

 styles. Fruit ripe in Aug. or Sept., an oblique-ovoid, 1-seeded, brown follicle, ^in. 

 long, with rugose surface, in dense clusters, the black seed hanging outside at 

 maturity. 



Variety fruticosum is a form found in southern Florida and western Texas with 

 3-foliate and more or less pubescent leaves, and with small ovate-oblong, crenulate, 

 coriaceous leaflets ; a shrub or small tree. 



(The specific name Clava-Herculis, is the Latin for club of Hereules, and is sug- 

 gested by the spinous nature of the trunks.) 



A small tree, very rarely more than 40 ft. (12 m.) in height or 12 in. 

 (0.30 m. ) in diameter of trunk, with rounded top and short trunk which is 

 vested with a very curious bark. This is thin, of a gray color and 

 smooth, except for the irregularly pyramidal, corky bosses which here 

 and there protrude an inch more or less from its surface. These are wide 

 at the base and contract to a rounded apex which is primarily tipped 

 with a prickle, though from their exposed situations the prickles become 

 easily dislodged. The branches are smooth and armed with straight 

 chestnut-brown, wide-based and sharp prickles. The juices of the tree 

 are of a very acrid, pungent flavor. 



HABITAT. From southern Virginia southward near the coast to about 

 the latitude of Tampa, Fla., and westward along the Gulf States to 

 western Texas, growing in the rich soil of bottom-lands, or in the east in 

 the sandy soil near the coast. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, moderately hard and strong, 

 fine grain, with numerous fine medullary rays and susceptible of a very 

 smooth satiny polish. It is of a delicate light brown color with abundant 

 light yellow sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.5056; Percentage of Ash, 

 0.82; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5015; Coefficient of Elasticity, 

 72577; Modulus of Rupture, 640; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 

 449; Resistance to Indentation. 159; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 31.51. 



USES. The wood of this tree is very little used, but the bark is in con- 

 siderable demand, especially by the colored people in the south, as a 

 popular remedy for the tooth-ache, and its remedial virtues are said to 

 have been well known to the aborigines of America.* 



* Brown's Trees of America,, p. 151. 



