Vasilis Teodoridis:
Rutaceae | Zanthoxylum
10. Zanthoxylum scandens Blume; Bijdr. 249. 1825.
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Fagara chinensis Merrill; F. cuspidata (Champion ex Bentham) Engler; F. cyrtorhachia Hayata; F. laxifoliolata Hayata; F. leiorhachia Hayata; F. scandens (Blume) Engler; Zanthoxylum chinense (Merrill) Chung; Z. cuspidatum Champion ex Bentham; Z. cyrtorhachium (Hayata) C. C. Huang; Z. laxifoliolatum (Hayata) C. C. Huang; Z. leiorhachium (Hayata) C. C. Huang.
Shrubs or woody climbers. Trunks; branches; branchlets; and leaf rachises with prickles. Leaves 5-25-foliolate; leaflet blades alternate or opposite on distal part of leaf rachis; ovate; ovate-elliptic; or obliquely oblong; 4-10 x 1.5-4 cm; both surfaces black or blackish brown when dry; abaxially lustrous; oil glands inconspicuous; midvein impressed and glabrous or plane and puberulent; base oblique to subsymmetric and obtuse to broadly cuneate; margin entire or apically crenulate; apex mucronate; caudate; cuspidate; or long acuminate and with an obtuse to retuse tip. Inflorescences terminal or axillary. Flowers 4-merous. Perianth in 2 series. Sepals pale purplish green; broadly ovate; ca. 0.5 mm. Petals pale yellowish green; 2-3 mm. Male flowers: stamens 4; 3-4 mm; connective with an oil gland at apex; rudimentary gynoecium subtended by pulvinate disk; 2-4-lobed. Female flowers: carpels 3 or 4; staminodes ligulate. Fruit follicles purplish red; grayish brown to black when dry; 4.5-5.5 mm in diam.; oil glands slightly protruding; plane; or impressed; apex beaked. Seeds subglobose; 4-5 mm in diam. Fl. Mar-May; fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 68.
Lowland forests; open forests; thickets; near sea level to 1500 m. S Anhui; Chongqing; Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hainan; Hubei; Hunan; Jiangxi; Sichuan; Taiwan; Yunnan; Zhejiang [India; Indonesia; Japan (Ryukyu Islands); Malaysia; Myanmar].