{{Short description|Species of plant in the family Rutaceae}} {{Speciesbox |name = Thorny yellowwood |image = Zanthoxylum ovalifolium from Parambikulam 04.jpg |image_caption = Female flowers |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author1=Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) |author2= & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group |name-list-style=amp |title=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' |article-number=e.T147027589A147027591 |year=2019 |access-date=23 February 2023}}</ref> |genus = Zanthoxylum |species = ovalifolium |authority = Wight<ref name=APC>{{cite web|title=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium''|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/81608|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911233900/https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/81608|url-status=live}}</ref> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> |synonyms = * ''Fagara ovalifolia'' <small>(Wight) Engl.</small> * ''Fagara varians'' <small>Domin</small> * ''Zanthoxylon ovalifolium'' <small>Wight orth. var.</small> * ''Zanthoxylum dominianum'' <small>Merr. & L.M.Perry</small> * ''Zanthoxylum inerme'' <small>C.T.White & W.D.Francis nom. illeg.</small> * ''Zanthoxylum suberosum'' <small>C.T.White</small> }} thumb|Male flowersthumb|Fruit
'''''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium''''', commonly known as '''thorny yellowwood''', '''oval-leaf yellow wood''' or '''little yellowwood''',<ref name="RFK">{{cite web |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/Zanthoxylum_ovalifolium.htm |title=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' |author1=F.A.Zich |author2=B.P.M.Hyland |author3=T.Whiffen |author4=R.A.Kerrigan |author2-link=Bernard Hyland |year=2020 |website=Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8) |publisher=Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government |access-date=1 July 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182633/https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/zanthoxylum_ovalifolium.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is a shrub or tree usually with trifoliate leaves, white, male and female flowers arranged in panicles in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets and red, purple or brown follicles.
==Description== ''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|8|m}} and often has prickles on its branchlets and thick, conical spines on its older stems. It has trifoliate leaves {{cvt|75–210|mm}} long, often with simple leaves on the same twig. The leaflets are elliptical to egg-shaped with the lower end towards the base, {{cvt|60–180|mm}} long, {{cvt|25–70|mm}} wide and sessile, the end leaflet sometimes on a petiolule up to {{cvt|5|mm}} long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, on the ends of branchlets, or both, in panicles up to {{cvt|120|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|2.5–3|mm}} long. The four sepals are {{cvt|0.5–1|mm}} long and the four petals white and about {{cvt|2.5|mm}} long. Male flowers have four stamens {{cvt|2.5–3|mm}} long with a sterile, narrow oval carpel about {{cvt|0.5|mm}} high. Female flowers have a single carpel {{cvt|1.5–2|mm}} long, and sometimes rudimentary stamens. Flowering occurs in summer and the fruit is a spherical red, purple or brown follicle {{cvt|6.5|mm}} wide.<ref name="RFK" /><ref name="FoA">{{cite book |last1=Hartley |first1=Thomas G. |editor=Annette J.G. Wilson |title=Flora of Australia (Volume 26) |date=2013 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study |location=Canberra |page=78 |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Zanthoxylum%20ovalifolium |access-date=18 August 2020 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911233811/https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Zanthoxylum%20ovalifolium |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tutcher |first1=William James |date=1 July 1905 |title=Descriptions of some New Species and Notes on other Chinese Plants |journal=Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=37 |issue=258 |page=64 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/8402#page/78/mode/1up |quote=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'', Wight''?'' Specimens of, apparently, this species were found on the southern slope of Mt. Parker in April, 1903. They differ from the description of ''Z. ovalifolium'' in the rusty-tomentose inflorescence and much thinner (papery) leaves.}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== ''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' was first formally described in 1839 by Robert Wight in his book, ''Illustrations of Indian Botany'', from specimens collected in the "Shevagerry hills in flower, and fruit in August and September".<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium''|url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/498234|publisher=APNI|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911233812/https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/498234|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Wight">{{cite book |last1=Wight |first1=Robert |title=Illustrations of Indian Botany |date=1839 |publisher=J. B. Pharoah for the author,1840-1850 |location=Madras |page=169 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/39609#page/187/mode/1up |access-date=18 August 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615085833/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/39609#page/187/mode/1up |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== Thorny yellowwood is a widespread species, found from India, through southeast Asia, Malesia, New Guinea, and Queensland. In Australia it occurs between the Daintree River and Ravenshoe, growing in rainforest at altitudes between {{cvt|100 and 1260|m}}.<ref name="RFK" /><ref name="FoA" />
==Uses== ===Timber=== Thorny yellowwood is a timber tree valued for its hard, yellowish-white, close-grained wood.<ref name="USDA">{{cite journal |title=47829 ''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' |journal=Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported |date=15 March 1922 |volume=51 |page=65 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/130034#page/635/mode/1up |access-date=12 September 2021}}</ref>
===Medicinal uses=== The fruits of this species are reported to have "astringent, stimulative, and digestive properties".<ref name="USDA" />
===Essential oils=== The fruits yield the essential oils myrcene and safrole.<ref name="UTP">{{cite web |title=''Zanthoxylum ovalifolium'' |url=http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Zanthoxylum+ovalifolium |publisher=Useful Tropical Plants |access-date=12 September 2021}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q11065930}}
ovalifolium Category:Plants described in 1839 Category:Taxa named by Robert Wight Category:Flora of Queensland Category:Flora of China Category:Flora of tropical Asia