Chopi
Zanthoxylum piperitum · Rutaceae · 초피나무
How to spot it
Prickles 1 cm long, modified from stipules and slightly curved downward, grow in opposite pairs (in the Japanese prickly ash they are alternate), and the leaves have a strong scent.
Look
- Leaves
- Odd-pinnate compound leaves with 9 to 10 leaflets, ovate to long ovate, 1 to 3.5 cm long, with wavy teeth. There are glands below the teeth, at the margin and at the tip that give off a scent, and the rachis has prickles.
- Flowers
- In May to June, pale yellow-green flowers bloom in compound racemes from the leaf axils.
- Fruit
- Reddish-brown globose capsules with glandular dots; the seeds are black and ripen in late September to early October.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- Japan; in Korea mainly in Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheongnam/buk-do, Jeollanam/buk-do and Gyeongsangnam/buk-do, and in Gangwon-do only in coastal areas such as Seoraksan and Geumgangsan.
- Ecology
- Native to warm regions but with wide temperature adaptability. Partial shade like that beneath a mixed woodland is ideal, and well-drained, moisture-retaining fertile sandy loam or humus-rich soil is suitable.