Description
Zanthoxylum piperitum is a bushy tree used for defensive hedges, which remain highly ornamental with their bushy habit. The Sichuan pepper tree can also be grown as a bonsai: it produces some very fine specimens. Sichuan pepper is also appreciated as a condiment: the dried berry husk (pericarp) is used as a spice, notably in the 5-berry blend. Whole Setchuan pepper berries are added to stews. Sichuan pepper berries have a unique flavor that produces both a chili-like irritating sensation in the mouth and a tingling sensation. The presence of sanshool gives them a slightly anesthetic taste, with a lemon aftertaste. Dried and crushed Zanthoxylum piperitum leaves are mainly added to noodle-based dishes. The young shoots, flower buds and flowers of the Sichuan pepper plant are also edible. At maturity, Zanthoxylum piperitum develops a shrubby habit 4 to 7 m high and 3 to 4 m wide.
Flexible branches grow from a thorny trunk.
Fine, flat thorns widen at their base and their tips take on the shape of a large wart over time. The deciduous foliage of the Sichuan pepper plant takes the form of pinnate compound leaves with 7 to 13 dense, small, tightly packed leaflets.
Their central vein is lined with thorns.
The leaves of the Setchuan pepper plant are highly fragrant at the slightest rustle. Zanthoxylum piperitum blooms with a multitude of tiny, self-fertilizing, yellow-green flowers.
Flowering gives way to small, stalked fruits 4 mm in diameter, with a thin, granular husk containing one or two very hard, black, shiny seeds. Bag of 10 seeds.
