白簕 bai le

Zanthoxylum trifoliatum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 270. 1753; Acanthopanax aculeatus (Aiton) Witte; A. sepium Seemann; A. trifoliatus (Linnaeus) Merrill; Panax aculeatus Aiton.

Shrubs, scandent or climbers, to 7 m tall. Branches with scattered, recurved prickles. Petiole 2-6 cm, glabrous, prickly; petiolules 2-8 mm; leaflets 3(-5), ovate, elliptic-ovate, or oblong, 4-10 × 2-4.5 cm, papery, adaxially glabrous or slightly setose on midvein and veins, secondary veins 5 or 6 pairs, base cuneate, margin serrulate, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence a terminal raceme of umbels or a compound umbel, borne on leafy shoots, with 3-10 umbels; peduncles 2-7 cm; pedicels 1-2 cm. Calyx with 5 teeth, glabrous. Ovary 2-carpellate; styles united to middle. Fruit globose, laterally compressed, 3-4 mm; style bifid, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Aug-Nov, fr. Sep-Dec.

Scrub fields, roadsides, forest margins, in valleys or on mountain slopes; below 1000 m in E and 3200 m in W part of range. S Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

This species is used medicinally.

Material from Guangxi with 3-foliolate leaves, generally entire leaflet margins, and more rounded leaflet bases may represent a new infraspecific taxon.