Zanthoxylum ailanthioides

The ailanthus-like prickly ash is in the citrus or Rutaceae family, natively occurring in southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan (from Honshu southward).

• The tree grows up to 18 m tall, the branchlets very stout, glabrous, densely set with short, stiff spines.
• Leaves are deciduous, pinnate, variable in size, normally to about 45 cm long on adult trees, but up to 90 cm long in the juvenile state; lateral leaflets in 5–11 pairs, 5–12 cm long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, finely toothed, smooth, dark green.
• Flowers in terminal cymes up to 12 cm across; sepals and petals are minute, the latter greenish yellow; stamens are yellowish.
• Seeds are black, compressed and tapering at one end.