Zanthoxylum acanthopodium Dc.

Shrubs, woody climbers, or trees to 6 m tall. Bark grayish black. Branchlets rust-colored pubescent to nearly glabrous, usually with prickles. Leaves 3-9-foliolate; rachis wings to 3 mm on each side; leaflet blades sessile, opposite, ovate-elliptic to lanceolate, 6-10 × 2-4 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous to rust-colored pubescent, oil glands inconspicuous, secondary veins 10-28 on each side of midvein and evident, margin entire or crenate. Inflorescences axillary. Perianth in 2 irregular series or 1 series, with 6-8 ± undifferentiated tepals. Tepals pale yellowish green, narrowly lanceolate, ca. 1.5 mm. Male flowers: stamens 5 or 6; anthers reddish purple before anthesis; disk pulvinate; rudimentary carpels 2-5. Female flowers: rudimentary stamens lacking; carpels 2-5, sparsely hirsute to glabrous, abaxially often with a conspicuous oil gland; styles recurved. Fruit follicles usually purplish red, ca. 4 mm in diam., glabrous or sometimes with sparse trichomes, oil glands large and protruding. Seeds ca. 3 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 64.

It is a subtropical plant. In Nepal plants grow between 1600-2800 m altitude. They grow in rocky places and hanging from cliffs. In southern China it grows in upland open forests between 1,400-3,200 m above sea level. In Yunnan.

Seeds are pickled. The fruit are used for chutney and pickles. A powder of dried seeds is used for flavouring foods. They have a coriander-like spice. They are used as a substitute for pepper. The young leaves are cooked and eaten with rice. They are also eaten raw with chilli.

Plants are grown from seeds or branch cuttings.