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Zanthoxylum ailanthoides; photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-08

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides Siebold & Zucc.

Alianthus-like prickly-ash; Japanese Prickly Ash

Rutaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast +7

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Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.6°C
Record low -1.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,682mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, also called ailanthus-like prickly ash, (Chinese: 椿叶花椒; pinyin: chun ye hua jiao, lit. "Ailanthus-leaved pepper", Chinese: 越椒; pinyin: yue-jiao; Wade–Giles: yüeh-chiao, lit. "Yue pepper", 食茱萸 shi zhu yu, lit. "edible shān zhū yú"; Japanese: カラスザンショウ, からすのさんしょう karasu-zanshō, karasu-no-sanshō, lit. "crow prickly ash") is an Asiatic plant of the prickly-ash genus Zanthoxylum, natively occurring in forest-covered parts of southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan from Honshu southward. The piquant fruit serves as a local substitute for the ordinary red-pepper in China before the Columbian exchange. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Zanthoxylum ailanthoides", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Zanthoxylum

Zanthoxylum is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae in the subfamily Rutoideae. Several of the species have yellow heartwood, to which their generic name alludes. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Zanthoxylum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,830 mm of 2,500 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.2 °C against a yearly mean of 19.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

2,500 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,830 mm of it April to September. Wettest month September at 354 mm, driest month December at 66 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,644 mm to 4,083 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,682 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,500 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.6 °C, the absolute minimum -1.8 °C, 5 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 8.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -0.3 °C to 14.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.9 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +315 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Zanthoxylum ailanthoides through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 8.2 °C; 2,500 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 16–35RH 62–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 532 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 6–2015 / 6–2118 / 10–2321 / 14–2524 / 18–2726 / 21–2928 / 24–3028 / 25–3026 / 23–2822 / 19–2619 / 14–2416 / 9–21
Night °C8 / 0–159 / 0–1511 / 4–1715 / 8–2018 / 13–2321 / 16–2523 / 19–2624 / 19–2622 / 17–2418 / 12–2214 / 7–1910 / 2–16
Rain mm78 / 39–233114 / 53–255156 / 76–242180 / 109–250270 / 140–397351 / 207–537326 / 186–549349 / 172–573354 / 192–569154 / 71–432102 / 45–33266 / 35–256
DLI16 / 13–2320 / 16–2526 / 21–3131 / 27–3533 / 29–3633 / 29–3535 / 31–3933 / 31–3528 / 26–3124 / 21–2918 / 16–2416 / 13–21
RH %63 / 55–7163 / 56–7164 / 57–7064 / 58–7065 / 60–7067 / 63–7167 / 64–7267 / 64–7066 / 62–7063 / 59–7062 / 57–7062 / 55–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 532 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (944 records in those cells; 7 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1330:6013 (23.475, 120.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 532 distinct grid cells holding 944 of the 951 in-range records (7 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1330:6013 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +315 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1002 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Kazan-retto, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Philippines · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker24.571, 121.302 · in the densest population, 628 records (41% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1536 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 944 of them in the land cells it reads, of 951 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 681 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2098 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 585 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1536 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 1did not loadZanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 2did not loadZanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 3did not loadZanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 4did not loadZanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 5did not loadZanthoxylum ailanthoides, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Ficus erecta Ficus erecta Erect fig Photo: CC BY, Francisca WuOnychium japonicum Onychium japonicum Carrot fern Photo: CC BY, Yinling ChenLepisorus microphyllus Lepisorus microphyllus Polypodiaceae Photo: CC BY, Donna BelderPilea peploides Pilea peploides Pacific Island clearweed Photo: CC BY, 胡正恆(Jackson Hu)Symplocos sumuntia Symplocos sumuntia Symplocaceae Photo: CC BY, 葉淑蓮Toxicodendron succedaneum Toxicodendron succedaneum Wax tree Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Zanthoxylum 31 in the reference

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium Zanthoxylum acanthopodium Rutaceae Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenZanthoxylum americanum Zanthoxylum americanum Toothache tree Photo: CC BY, Carter ErtelZanthoxylum armatum Zanthoxylum armatum Winged prickly-ash Photo: CC BY, jimmyZanthoxylum asiaticum Zanthoxylum asiaticum Climbing Orange Photo: CC BY, AparnaZanthoxylum avicennae Zanthoxylum avicennae Chinese Wingleaf Prickly Ash Photo: CC BY, Toby YZanthoxylum beecheyanum Zanthoxylum beecheyanum Rutaceae Photo: CC BY, M108tZanthoxylum bungeanum Zanthoxylum bungeanum Sichuan-pepper Photo: CC BY, Marco MussitaZanthoxylum capense Zanthoxylum capense Rutaceae Photo: CC BY, Shaun SwanepoelZanthoxylum caribaeum Zanthoxylum caribaeum Prickly yellow Photo: CC BY-SA, Janitzio Pech ZúñigaZanthoxylum clava-herculis Zanthoxylum clava-herculis Hercules' club Photo: CC BY, Laura GaudetteZanthoxylum coco Zanthoxylum coco Rutaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedZanthoxylum davyi Zanthoxylum davyi Forest Knobwood Photo: CC BY-SA, alanbedfordshaw all 32 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Fagara ailanthoides; Fagara ailanthoides var. inermis; Fagara ailanthoides var. pubescens; Fagara boninshimae; Fagara emarginella and 9 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rutaceae
Described by
Siebold & Zucc.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan +6
Wild records
1536 in range · 681 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 84 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (57 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 23 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +315 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 76 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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