Toothache Tree (Xanthozylum clava-herculis)

One of my favorite native trees is getting ready to bloom. This is the toothache tree, xanthoxylum clava-hercules, also known as Hercules’ club. This tree loves the calcium rich sandy soils near oyster banks and shell middens. It has thorns on the compound leaf stems and these conical spiky knobs along the knobby trunk. The leaves and the bark contain a chemical that was used to numb toothaches in colonial days. The blooms attract lots of pollinators, including giant swallowtail butterflies, whose caterpillars camouflage themselves on the leaves by looking like bird droppings. Once the flowers are done, the fruit ripens and splits, providing food for cardinals and other birds. By fall, the spent husks have their own beauty.