Zanthoxylum piperitum
species of plant
Zanthoxylum piperitum, also known as Japanese pepper or Japanese prickly-ash, is a deciduous aromatic spiny shrub or small tree of the citrus and rue family Rutaceae, native to Japan and Korea.
It is called sanshō (山椒) in Japan and chopi (초피) in Korea. Both the leaves and fruits (peppercorns) are used as aromatics and flavorings in these countries. It is closely related to the Chinese Sichuan pepper, which comes from plants of the same genus.
Names
"Japanese pepper" Z. piperitum is called sanshō (山椒; 'mountain pepper') in Japan, but the corresponding cognate term in Korean, sancho (산초) refers to a different species: Z. schinifolium, known as inuzanshō or 'dog sansho' in Japan.
In Korea, Z. piperitum is called chopi (초피). However, in several regional dialects, notably Gyeongsang dialect, it is also called sancho (산초) or jepi (제피).
"Japanese prickly-ash" has been used as the standard American common name.
Varieties
The variety Z. piperitum var. inerme Makino, known in Japan as Asakura zanshō are thornless, or nearly so, and have been widely cultivated for commercial harvesting.
The public source identifies “Zanthoxylum piperitum” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zanthoxylum, piperitum and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q167881. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zanthoxylum piperitum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.