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Glite Dictionary
🌳 An Australian tree 🌿 A spiny shrub
prickly ash

prickly ash

9.8
An Australian tree with leaves that have sharp teeth and thin spikes of white flowers
  • noun
  • Australian
translation icon : madera espinosa
  • The bark of the prickly ash is sometimes used in traditional remedies.

Examples

  • Young prickly ash trees have leaves with sharp, toothed margins.

  • The prickly ash tree has beautiful white flowers.

  • A prickly ash was planted in the botanical garden for educational purposes.

  • I saw a prickly ash in the botanical garden.

  • The prickly ash is known for its unique spiky branches and fragrant white flowers.

  • In the forest, the prickly ash tree stood out with its shiny, toothed leaves.

  • The gardener admired the prickly ash for its striking flowers that attract many pollinators.

Synonyms

Orites excelsa
vsprickly ash
  • Specialized
9.9

A tall Australian tree with white flower spikes and leaves often divided and prickly when young

states leaves are pinnate and prickly-toothed when young
genus Zanthoxylum
vsprickly ash
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of trees and shrubs that people use in cooking and medicine

refers to a single Australian tree rather than a widespread group

Surface Forms

prickly ash singular
prickly ashes plural

Morphology

prickly + ash

The phrase combines 'prickly' (bearing thorns or spines) with 'ash' (a type of tree), so a learner who knows both words will naturally infer it denotes a spiny/ thorny tree called an ash. Even though the botanical genus (Zanthoxylum) is not a true Fraxinus ash, the descriptive compositional meaning is immediately transparent and cross-linguistically obvious.

Etymology

Prickly ash comes from the tree's sharp spines and its leaves that look a little like those of an ash tree. The picture of a branch that is prickly and can 'prick' you helps explain why the name refers to this Australian tree often used in gardens and remedies.