Senegal prickly-ash

Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides (often listed under the synonym Fagara zanthoxyloides), the Senegal or West African prickly-ash, is a shrub or small tree of the family Rutaceae native to the savannas and dry woodlands of tropical West and Central Africa. It typically grows 3 to 12 metres tall, with the trunk and branches conspicuously armed with stout, broad-based conical prickles. The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with several pairs of opposite, glossy leaflets and a winged or prickly rachis, and they release a citrus-pepper aroma when crushed, reflecting the aromatic oils characteristic of the genus. Small greenish-yellow flowers are borne in axillary or terminal clusters. The fruit is a small reddish-brown follicle that splits to release a shiny black seed. The bark, roots, leaves and stems are intensely pungent and bitter, producing a tingling, numbing sensation in the mouth, and the roots and stems are widely cut and sold as chewing sticks.