Zanthoxylum

Zanthoxylum is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae in the subfamily Rutoideae. Several of the species have yellow heartwood, to which their generic name alludes. Several species are cultivated for their use as spices, notably including Sichuan pepper.

Zanthoxylum

Forest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
prickly ashPBDB
Sits inside
RutaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 29 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 29 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 29 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 29 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 29 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–32 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.6–5.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.7–3.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences48.07 Mya2.58 Mya57 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Zanthoxylum on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

29 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Headon Beds — 50.75°N, 1.60°WSan Sebastian — 18.37°N, 66.19°WSanying — 26.51°N, 100.16°ESanying — 26.46°N, 99.43°ENgorora — 0.88°N, 35.80°EOldhaven — 50.78°N, 0.08°EBangmai — 23.90°N, 100.02°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EWulidui — 32.37°N, 113.40°EZhaotong — 27.32°N, 103.72°EJohn Day — 44.16°N, 120.46°W

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The named rock units Zanthoxylum has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Zanthoxylum and its relatives

Miocene

Where Zanthoxylum and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

602 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Zanthoxylum, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 29 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Zanthoxylum

Credit
Forest & Kim Starr
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Zanthoxylum was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itRutaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753