Hercules Club

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

“Chew a leaf. Your mouth goes numb. That's a feature.”

Also called the toothache tree because the bark and leaves contain a natural anesthetic — chew a leaf and your mouth goes numb within seconds. The trunk is covered in conical spines that look like something from the Cretaceous. Strange, useful, and genuinely alarming in appearance. It does all of this while being a food source for giant swallowtail butterflies. Worth every inch of space.