prickly ash

prickly ash
    n 1: any of a number of trees or shrubs of the genus Zanthoxylum
         having spiny branches
    2: Australian tree having alternate simple leaves (when young
       they are pinnate with prickly toothed margins) and slender
       axillary spikes of white flowers [syn: {prickly ash}, {Orites
       excelsa}]
    

Prickly ash \Prickly ash\ (Bot.),
   1. A prickly shrub ({Xanthoxylum Americanum}) with yellowish
      flowers appearing with the leaves; also called {toothache
      tree}. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic.
      The southern species is {Xanthoxylum Carolinianum}.
      --Gray.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Bot.), {Hercules'-club}, also called the {Angelica tree}.
      [PJC]
    

Hercules'-club \Hercules'-club\, Hercules'-club
\Hercules'-club\, Hercules-club \Hercules-club\prop. n.
   1. (Bot.) A densely spiny ornamental tree ({Zanthoxylum
      clava-herculis}) of the rue family, growing in southeast
      U. S. and West Indies. [WordNet sense 1]

   Note: It belongs to the same genus as one of the trees
         ({Zanthoxylum Americanum}) called {prickly ash}.

   Syn: Hercules'-clubs, Hercules-club, {Zanthoxylum
        clava-herculis}.
        [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]

   2. A small, prickly, deciduous clump-forming tree or shrub
      ({Aralia spinosa}) of eastern U.S.; also called {Angelica
      tree} and {prickly ash}. [WordNet sense 2]

   Syn: American angelica tree, devil's walking stick, {Aralia
        spinosa}.
        [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]

   3. A variety of the common gourd ({Lagenaria vulgaris}). Its
      fruit sometimes exceeds five feet in length.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Ash \Ash\ ([a^]sh), n. [OE. asch, esh, AS. [ae]sc; akin to OHG.
   asc, Sw. & Dan. ask, Icel. askr, D. esch, G. esche.]
   1. (Bot.) A genus of trees of the Olive family, having
      opposite pinnate leaves, many of the species furnishing
      valuable timber, as the European ash ({Fraxinus
      excelsior}) and the white ash ({Fraxinus Americana}).
      [1913 Webster]

   {Prickly ash} ({Zanthoxylum Americanum}) and {Poison ash}
      ({Rhus venenata}) are shrubs of different families,
      somewhat resembling the true ashes in their foliage.

   {Mountain ash}. See {Roman tree}, and under {Mountain}.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The tough, elastic wood of the ash tree.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Ash is used adjectively, or as the first part of a
         compound term; as, ash bud, ash wood, ash tree, etc.
         [1913 Webster]