Zanthoxylum clava-Hercules, commonly known as the Hercules’ club, pepperwood, or southern prickly ash, is a spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows up to 17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps on the bark. The leaves are glabrous and leathery, pinnately compound. The flowers are dioecious, in panicles up to 20 cm long; each flower is small with 3-5 white petals. The fruit is a two-valved capsule with a rough surface containing several small black seeds.

Sometimes called “toothache tree” or “tingle tongue” because chewing on the leaves, bark, or twigs causes a tingling numbness of the mouth, tongue, teeth, and gums. It was used for medicinal purposes by both Native Americans and early settlers to treat toothache because of this.

Deer browse its leaves, and birds eat its fruit. It hosts many insect species, including the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and the leaf beetle (Derospidea brevicollis).

Source: Wikipedia.