Zanthoxylum flavum Vahl

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Rutaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Zanthoxylum flavum Vahl

  • Description

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    Species Description - Unarmed tree, 6-10 m tall; bark gray, smooth; twigs nearly cylindrical, densely stellate-pubescent. Leaves 15-30(-40) x 10-25(-30) cm; leaflets 5-7(-13), coriaceous, 3.5-11 (-15) x 1.5-5(-8) cm, oblong-elliptic to nearly lanceolate, sparsely stellate pubescent, the apex obtuse to rounded, slightly notched, the base obtuse to rounded, unequal on lateral leaflets, the margins crenate; petioles 5-6 cm long. Flowers 4-merous, in axillary panicles. Calyx of triangular lobes ca. 5 mm long; petals white, 2.5-3.2 mm long, oblong; stamens 4, early deciduous; nectary disk ca. 0.5 mm high, glabrous; ovary glabrous, 2-lobed, 2-carpellate, the carpels united but separating at maturity, the style terminal, the stigma nearly bilobed. Follicles 2, stipitate, nearly obovoid, punctate. Seeds ovoid, shiny dark brown, ca. 4.5 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Common names: satin wood, yellow sandalwood.

  • Distribution

    A rare tree, known only from a single individual on Ajax Peak (A5284). Probably once common on St. John but extirpated because of timber exploitation. Also found in Florida, throughout the West Indies and northern South America.

    West Indies| Florida United States of America North America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| South America|