About Zanthoxylum coco Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.
Zanthoxylum coco Gillies ex Hook. & Arn. is commonly known as coco, cochucho, or smelly sauco. It is a small to medium-sized tree that typically grows 6 to 8 metres tall, and it usually grows either alone or in small isolated groups. It has abundant evergreen foliage, with imparipinnate leaves. The leaves bear paired spines that are thought to grow in the positions where leaflets would otherwise form. Distinctive paired punctations appear on the leaflets. Leaf margins are serrated, and leaves have pinnate venation. Its flowers have five petals and are arranged in paniculate inflorescences. The fruit is spherical and dehiscent, and it holds a single shiny blackish seed. The entire plant has a characteristic unpleasant smell, which is where the alternative common name "smelly sauco" comes from.
