Zanthoxylum acanthopodium

Zanthoxylum acanthopodium, or andaliman, is a flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. Its range includes southwestern China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, north and northeastern India, Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, 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

The plant is found in Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, and Yunnan in China. It is spread across Northeast India, i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim. It is also found Nepal and in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in India.^[1]

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