prickly ash

noun

1. Also called toothache tree. Also called Northern prickly ash,. a citrus shrub or small tree, Zanthoxylum americanum, having aromatic leaves and usually prickly branches.

2. Hercules-club.

prickly ash

noun

1. Also called: toothache tree. a North American rutaceous shrub or small tree, Zanthoxylum americanum, having prickly branches, feathery aromatic leaves, and bark used as a remedy for toothache

Word History and Origins

Origin of prickly ash¹

An Americanism dating back to 1700–10

Example Sentences

After weeks of lockdown privation, the more iron-stomached among China’s diners craved a proper Sichuan-style hot pot, with fiery chili peppers and mouth-numbing prickly ash pods bobbing across a cauldron of red broth.

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A morsel swiped in the dark red sauce, lightly numbing with prickly ash and roaring with fried chiles, finds you speed eating like a cartoon character.

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Its garnish of wok-roasted prickly ash has the same pleasant numbing effect on the tongue as Sichuan peppercorns.

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Sichuan peppercorns, the dried seed pods of the prickly ash, are actually not a kind of pepper, but a spice that delivers tongue-tingling heat with a citrus accent.

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They’re the dried citrus berries of the prickly ash tree, and they produce sensations unlike anything you’ll experience from a standard black peppercorn.

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