Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC.

 
  • Family : RUTACEAE
    (Rue Or Citrus Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : NIMBU FAMILY (नींबू फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Rutaceae
  • Basionym : Fagara rhetsa Roxb.; Zanthoxylum budrunga var. rhetsa (Roxb.) Haines; Fagara budrunga Roxb.; Fagara parviflora (Benth.) Engl.; Lacuris illicioides Buch.-Ham.; Tipalia limonella Dennst.; Zanthoxylum budrunga (Roxb.) DC.; Zanthoxylum crenatum Wall.; Zanthox
  • Synonym(s) : Fagara budrunga Roxb.; Zanthoxylum budrunga (Roxb.) DC.; Zanthoxylum limonella (Dennst.) Alston; Fagara budrunga Roxb.; Fagara parviflora (Benth.) Engl.; Fagara rhetsa Roxb.; Lacuris illicioides Buch.-Ham.; Tipalia limonella Dennst.; Zanthoxylum budrunga (Roxb.) DC.; Zanthoxylum crenatum Wall.; Zanthoxylum limonella (Dennst.) Alston; Zanthoxylum oblongum Wall.; Zanthoxylum parviflorum Benth.; Zanthoxylum rhetsum St.-Lag.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC.
  • Common name : Indian Prickly Ash
  • Vernacular name :
    • Badrang (Hindi)
    • Gaavate mara, Jummi mara, Aramadala mara (Kannada)
    • Racha, Rhetsa-marmu (Telugu)
    • Morai, Kuli (Oria)
    • Tejavati (Sanskrit)
    • Kothumurikku, Mullilam (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Tropical evergreen forests, Tropical moist deciduous forests
  • Comments / notes : Occasional; undergrowth of trees in wet deciduous forests. The young leaves cooked and eaten as a vegetable by Burmans.
  • Key identification features : A medium-vised deciduous tree, the base of the trunk and roots corky furrowed, cut yellow with faint brown streaks, turning dark brown in a little while. Leaves imparipinnate, collected at the ends of the branchlets, rachis slender, crenate-serrate with a large transparent gland in each sinus; pungent when bruised. Flowers small, greenish-white, in axillary panicles with opposite branches. Fruit the size of a pea.
  • Flower, Fruit : March-November
  • Collector(s) Name : Cecil J. Saldanha, K.P. Sreenath, S.R, Ramesh; Cecil J. Saldanha; S. Udaya Kumar, B. Gurudev Singh
  • Collection Date : 04-08-1979, 21-08-1969, 08-07-1982
  • Collection Nos : KFP 8876; 14570; KFP 14631
  • Collection Locality : South Kanara dist.; Hassan dist.; Uttara Kannada dist.
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : East Godavari district, Visakhapatnam district
    • Karnataka : Bengaluru Urban district, Bengaluru Rural district, Belagavi district, Ballari district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Mysuru district, Shivamogga district, Udupi district, Uttara Kannada district, Dakshina Kannada district
    • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Kollam district
    • Maharashtra : Kolhapur district, Pune district, Raigad district, Ratnagiri district, Sindhudurg district, Dhule district, Jalgaon district, Nandurbar district, Nashik district
    • Odisha : Ganjam district, Puri district
    • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Kameng
    • Assam : Assam
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : North and Middle Andaman,Rangat taluk and Long Island
  • Native : Andaman Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Myanmar, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Andaman Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Myanmar, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Vietnam
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1
    • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
    • Naidu, M.T. & O.A. Kumar 2015. Tree species diversity in the Eastern Ghats of Northern Andhra Pradesh, India. JoTT 7 (8): 7443-7459
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
    • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state
    • Saldanha, C.J. (1996). Flora of Karnataka vol. 2. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi
    • M.R. Almeida (1996). Flora of Maharashtra vol.1
    • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla: 110
    • P.K . Hajra ., D.M. Verma and G.S. Giri (1996). Materials For The Flora Of Arunachal Pradesh , Vol (1), Pg : 303
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Zanthoxylum rhetsa
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Zanthoxylum rhetsa. Downloaded on 12 February 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution
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