Zanthoxylum acanthopodium

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, or andaliman, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. Its range includes southern western China,Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern India and northeastern India, Nepal, Laos, Burma, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia (northern Sumatran highlands), and Peninsular Malaysia.

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium
Habitus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Zanthoxylum
Species:	Z. acanthopodium
Binomial name
Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC.[1]

Seeds

Distribution

In China, the plant is found in Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, and Yunnan. It is spread across Northeast India, i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim. It is also found in Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) in the country as well as Nepal. Its distribution in Southeast Asia includes Laos, Burma, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia (northern Sumatran highlands), and Peninsular Malaysia.^[1]

Much like the closely related Sichuan pepper (Z. bungeanum), the seed pericarps are used as spices in cooking and have a similar tongue-numbing characteristic. However, in cooking, the flavour of andaliman has lemon-like notes (similar to those of lemon-grass) as well as a hint of the aromatic pandan leaf.

Phylogenetics of related species

Z. piperitum (sanshō pepper) Z. beecheyanum Z. simulans (Sichuan pepper) Z. bungeanum (Sichuan pepper) Z. armatum (rattan pepper) Z. acanthopodium Z. mollissimum Z. americanum (prickly ash) Z. fagara (wild lime) Z. foliolosum Z. thomasianum Z. rhodoxylum Z. petiolare all other Zanthoxylum species

Cladogram of 13 most closely related species according to the Open Tree of Life.[2]

In local culture

In Nagaland it is called Ganyǎ in the Angami language.^[3]