About Zanthoxylum martinicense (Lam.) DC.
Zanthoxylum martinicense, common names include Martinique prickly ash, white pricklyash, and espino rubial. This species is an evergreen tree that features pinnately compound leaves and thick conical spines on its bark, and can grow up to 20 meters tall. Male and female flowers develop on separate individual trees. Its flower clusters, called panicles, grow at the end of branches, are heavily branched, and hold many nearly stalkless flowers. Zanthoxylum martinicense is native to the West Indies and northern South America, including the countries of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. It grows in moist areas with limestone-based soils in full sun, and is typical of lowland forests within the Puerto Rican moist forest ecoregion. The fruit of this tree has five segments; each segment splits open to reveal one shiny black seed. Seeds are very small, weighing approximately 0.0009 grams each, and are dispersed by birds.
