I was served a green salad once that had tiny leaves mixed in as condiment, which has very distinctive flavour and taste. Add a lot to a otherwise bland salad. I was told it is from a prickly ash bush grown in their garden, I had since searched many nurseries without success. Any suggestion?
Prickly ash refers to at least 2 plants--neither an ash. Zanthoxylum americanum is used medicinally, but no mention of edible leaves. Aralia spinosa is described by Wikipedia as having edible young leaves, but that they are cooked as a condiment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aralia_spinosa Of course common names, being what they are, there may be other possibilities. There are a lot of tasty things that can be grown to add to salads. May be safer looking for some of the more tried and true plants.
The prickly ash bush that I had observed is about 6' tall and about 4' in dia. , it was about 10 years old. It's leaf structured exactly like a ash tree with leaf no longer than 1/2' long, thorns all over branches like roses. Tasting the leaf by itself gives a tingling sensation. The Japanese quite often uses uncooked.
Facciola, CORNUCOPIA II - A SOURCE BOOK OF EDIBLE PLANTS (1998, Kampong Publications, Vista) lists three species of Zanthoxylum, indicates culinary uses for the leaves of two of them. For "Zanthoxylum trees and shrubs in Seattle" here is a link: http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-May08.html
Dear Ron B, Your information is so wonderful, thank you very much. Now my goal is to get a Zanthoxylum piperitum, which is exactly the plant I am looking for.
Dear Phoebe, Have you had any luck in finding any sources of this plant (i.e. Zanthoxylum piperitum) in the Vancouver area? My wife remembers this plant from Japan and we would be interested as well in finding one here.
I am still looking. I had just asked my cousin who is living in Seattle area to search as well. will let you know. The one I saw was in my sister's garden, She was married to a Japanese, but had since past away two month ago and the house was sold and I no longer have access to the tree.
Thanks, Phoebe. I suspect that this plant is just marginally hardy in the Vancouver area and may need some winter protection here. The Sunset Western Garden book lists it as being hardy up to their zone 6, which goes no farther north than the southern half of Washington. Christopher Brickell's A-Z Encyclopaedia on the other hand lists it as their zone 7, which their map shows as the zone for much of Vancouver.
"Every one I have seen is shrub-sized, and the tallest are one 16.5 feet at Kruckeberg Botanic Garden in Shoreline, just north of Seattle, and one 8 feet in Washington Park Arboretum, dating from 1958" And so on for each species discussed. http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-May08.html
Dear eric r. I found a Z piperitum from Phoenix Perennial in Richmond. It is about 3' tall in a gallon pot. Cost me $20.
Dear Ron B., The one I got from Phoenix Perennial seems to be the real thing. It looks exactly like the one my sister had and in the picture from A. L. J.'s article. I also believe the staffs in Phoenix are very knowledgeable, instead of giving me quick answers they will either check with their head gardener or online/in books to verify first.
Mislabeled stock is common. Usually it depends on what the supplier sent, if they are putting out the correct item. If nobody at the retailer knows the difference or checks, then... Nowadays, with everything (at big stores at least) done on computers (and printers) even if it becomes known and accepted that the wrong plant was sent an employee or manager who does not have a full appreciation of the importance of true-to-nameness may leave the wrong labels on such stock - it already having been entered into the computer and the labels (and maybe display signs) having been printed and put out. Not taking the time and spending the money to make the correction is thought more important than getting it right. Plant retailers are retailers above everything else. If they don't know how to retail successfully they go out of business. Horticultural perfection can and often is a casualty to the fact that retail nurseries are vendors above all else, that they are trading in plants and gardening products being secondary. Another thing that may be encountered is staff who have been given multiple contradictory opinions by visitors about the identity of stock that has generated such comment, chosen to respond by doing nothing - including simply looking in a few references on hand at the store and checking for themselves. For example one large, prominent long-established "favorite" store here was offering Sorbus aucuparia one year as the UBC introduction S. hupehensis 'Pink Pagoda'. The different parts, I believe including the reddish fruits of S. aucuparia where evident on the specimens displayed. Pointing this out to a manager resulted in the retort that a bunch of people had said it was S. aucuparia but another whole set had said it was 'Pink Pagoda'. So, the matter was being left unchanged. Probably all the trees were bought and planted incorrectly as 'Pink Pagoda'. The correct identification of nursery plants is always a matter unto itself, independent of where they are being offered or by whom. Either a batch has the anatomical and behavioral characteristics of the plant it is supposed to represent or it does not. The most famous, admired party may have mistakenly grown and sold a new item under the wrong name, or not noticed that they had the wrong stock. Labels may also get mixed up, go undiscovered. Where a production operation in particular is of some size many people with less knowledge than the owner or other in-house expert will often be involved in the handling (including labeling) and shipping of stock.
I believe you are absolutely correct about some of the retailer either lacking the knowledge or simply careless. I am not affiliated in anyway with Phoenix Perennial other than purchased plants from them in the past. P.P. is more a grower than a retailer, and not at all inexpensive. That doesn't make them always correct only more so than those mega plantland.
Thanks, Phoebe. I called Phoenix Perennial, who now seem to be sold out of the plant, but said they would call me if they receive any more.
My mother-in-law recently and unexpectedly brought two plants on a visit from Japan. The Japanese label says "Sanshou" which usually translates as Zanthoxylum piperitum. The name is prefaced by the words "Asa-kura" (lit. "morning storehouse"). I don't know if this is the name of the plant company or a variety name. (It's both a common family name and also a city in Kyushu.) I've attached a photo. I'm still wondering how hardy this plant is in Vancouver. Phoebe, what has been your experience with growing it here? In the photo is also another plant she brought: a small cutting of what she claims to be mokkobara, (Rosa Banksiae) -- a yellow variety. I am also wondering how hardy it is in Vancouver.
I suppose my question is how they were imported...please tell me that they weren't imported with soil.
