Indonesian Lemon Pepper

Overview

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, its native range is East Asia to southern China, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.The plant is mainly gathered from the wild for its essential oil and medicinal use, though it is also sometimes cultivated. In Indonesia, it is known as plant species difficult to cultivate and its natural distribution in Indonesia is restricted to Aceh and North Sumatra. A wild plant species typical of North Sumatra commonly used as a spice Batak typical cuisine. The seeds are dried, ground into a powder and used as a food flavouring, which is fragrant, mouth-numbing and tongue-tingling. The plant is used as an insecticide. An essential oil, called 'wartara oil', is extracted from the fruits by distillation. It is used in perfumery. The yellow wood is close-grained. It is used for making walking sticks, pestles, etc.

Vernacular Names

 Hua jiao (Chinese). 

Agroecology

Occurs in upland open forests and thickets at elevations from 1,400-3,200 m, also in montane forest margins, rocky places and hanging from cliffs. Tolerates to grow in full sun to partial shade areas.

Morphology

• Stem - branched, thorny twig.
• Leaves - spread, 5-20 cm long and 3-15 cm wide, fragrant, 3-11 leaflets, thorny, lanceolate to oblong, tapered tip, adaxial surface is shiny green, young leaf has reddish green abaxial and light green adaxial.
• Flower - tiny, 5-7 petals, pale yellow, with red or purple dotted on stalks. i pangkal kelopak. Filaments 5-6 at the base, reddish anther, stigma 3-4, 
• Fruit - capsule, fragrant, rounded, 2-3 mm in diameter, young fruit is green and red when mature, each stalk contains 10-20 fruits.
• Seed - shiny black, containing 1 seed in each fruit, hard coated.

Cultivation

Generatively propagated by seed, and vegetatively by cuttings.

Chemical Constituents

Essential oils (limonene, citronellol, β-myrcene, β-ocimene, linalool, E-1-decenal, a-pinene, and geraniol), phenolics, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, triterpenoids, and alkaloids.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• The seeds and bark are used in the treatment of dyspepsia, fever, cholera, etc.
• It has antimicrobal, antibacerial, and antiviral activities.