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Zanthoxylum simulans; photograph (c) jimsox, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) jimsox, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-05-24

Zanthoxylum simulans Hance

Chinese-pepper; Szechuan pepper; Sichuan-pepper; Chinese Prickly-ash

Rutaceae · China South-Central, China North-Central +4

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Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) Sagnik Dutta Roy, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) Sagnik Dutta Roy, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) jimsox, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Zanthoxylum simulans, photograph (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) 40 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
3.1°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,940mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
14–36DLI
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 simulans, the Chinese-pepper, Chinese prickly-ash or flatspine prickly-ash, is a flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, native to southern and central China, Taiwan, and South Korea. It is one of several species of Zanthoxylum from which Sichuan pepper is produced.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Zanthoxylum simulans", 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 (1,511 mm of 2,012 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.6 °C against a yearly mean of 15.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

2,012 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,511 mm of it April to September. Wettest month August at 341 mm, driest month December at 55 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,466 mm to 2,759 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,940 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,012 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: 14 to 36 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 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -2.1 °C to 12.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.2 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 3.1 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 70% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 simulans through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.1 °C; 2,012 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 14–36RH 58–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 43 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 3–188 / 5–1811 / 9–2115 / 14–2418 / 17–2722 / 21–2926 / 24–3027 / 25–3024 / 22–2819 / 17–2515 / 12–2210 / 6–19
Night °C3 / -2–124 / -1–136 / 2–1511 / 6–1815 / 11–2119 / 16–2323 / 21–2524 / 21–2521 / 16–2316 / 9–2011 / 4–175 / 0–14
Rain mm69 / 33–9479 / 48–118124 / 63–172151 / 85–203182 / 104–275275 / 186–363328 / 239–436341 / 227–489234 / 156–38194 / 49–13780 / 48–10555 / 32–71
DLI14 / 13–2120 / 18–2327 / 26–2934 / 31–3536 / 32–3733 / 31–3532 / 30–3732 / 30–3427 / 26–3124 / 23–2817 / 16–2314 / 13–20
RH %58 / 55–6458 / 56–6559 / 56–6461 / 56–6463 / 58–6567 / 62–6970 / 64–7467 / 65–7164 / 61–6859 / 57–6458 / 56–6358 / 55–62

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 36% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum -3.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.9 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 43 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (58 records in those cells; 2 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 1131:6135 (33.425, 126.775). 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 43 distinct grid cells holding 58 of the 60 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1131:6135 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 36% land and none of the 11 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.50_126.875, lapse-corrected +184 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 231 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 North-Central, Qinghai, China Southeast, Korea, Taiwan · 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 marker29.62, 115.41 · in the densest population, 226 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 383 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 58 of them in the land cells it reads, of 60 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 168 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 51 km away. 29 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 323 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 383 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 simulans, photograph 1did not loadZanthoxylum simulans, photograph 2did not loadZanthoxylum simulans, photograph 3did not loadZanthoxylum simulans, photograph 4did not loadZanthoxylum simulans, photograph 5did not loadZanthoxylum simulans, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Sagnik Dutta Roy, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) jimsox, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Cyrtomium falcatum Cyrtomium falcatum House holly-fern Photo: CC BY, WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁Boehmeria splitgerbera Boehmeria splitgerbera Urticaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedBiancaea decapetala Biancaea decapetala Cat's claw Photo: CC BY, 大澤風季 ohsawa_FukiRhaphiolepis umbellata Rhaphiolepis umbellata Japanese-hawthorn Photo: CC0, author not statedLitsea japonica Litsea japonica Lauraceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Sinomenium acutum Sinomenium acutum Orientvine Photo: CC BY, りなべる

Other Zanthoxylum 31 in the reference

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium Zanthoxylum acanthopodium Rutaceae Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenZanthoxylum ailanthoides Zanthoxylum ailanthoides Alianthus-like prickly-ash Photo: CC BY, chiuluanZanthoxylum 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 stated all 32 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Fagara podocarpa; Fagara setosa; Xanthoxylum bungei; Zanthoxylum acanthophyllum; Zanthoxylum argyi and 8 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rutaceae
Described by
Hance
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, Qinghai +3
Wild records
383 in range · 168 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 (59 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 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 33.50_126.875, lapse-corrected +184 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (36% land), so no cold floor is shown
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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 41 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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