Niaragato (Zanthoxylum tragodes)
Description
This rare very spiny shrub or small tree of dry areas is easily recognized by: many very slender straight sharp spines 1/16 - - inch long, paired at leaf bases and on nodes along very slender twigs; the green to gray twigs very slender, zigzag, and widely forking; many crowded very small light green pinnate leaves - -1- inches long, composed of 3-7 (rarely to 11) narrow leaflets, paired at end, and broad or winged axis, aromatic, with minute gland dots and spicy taste; small 4-parted yellow flowers 1/8 inch broad at leaf base; and fruits 2 or 1 from a flower, rounded, blackish, more than 1/8 inch long, pod-like, 1-seeded. Deciduous shrub or rarely a small tree 15 feet high with several stems to 3 inches in diameter, and widely spreading flat-topped crown of very thin foliage, hairless throughout. Bark light brown, smoothish, slightly fissured, with spines sometimes persistent. Inner bark yellowish, with thin greenish outer layer, bitter. Twigs very slender, zigzag, widely forking, minutely hairy when young, green becoming gray and finely fissured. The leaves are alternate and only - - - inch apart, odd pinnate, hairless or nearly so. At the base of each leaf are paired brown spines (stipules), very slender, sharp, 1/16 - - inch long and widely forking, remaining on the branches. The petiole - - 3/8 inch long and the axis are winged and about 1/16 inch wide. The leaflets are paired except at end, stalkless or nearly so, 1/8 - - inch long and 1/16 - 3/16 inch wide, rounded or blunt at both ends, not toothed on edges, thin, the side veins inconspicuous, slightly shiny above and dull beneath, with 2 minute light brown glands at base.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Sapindales
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Family: Rutaceae
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Genus: Zanthoxylum
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