Common Names
Hercules’-club prickly ash, Herculesclub, pepper wood, pricklyash, shrubby pricklyash, southern pricklyash, toothache tree, wild orange.

Description
A shrub or small tree 5 to 10 feet in height. Leaves are alternate, compound with 5 to 11 leaflets. Stems and petioles are often prickly. Flowers are greenish-white, small, and inconspicuous. Fruit is a reddish, globular to elliptic aromatic capsule, with sharp prickles.

Flowering Period
April to May.

Habitat
Sand hills, dry woods, and thickets.

Harvest
Bark collected in spring and fall when ripe.

Uses
This plant has been used as a sudorific and diaphoretic.