Tickle Tongue Tree
Fallon Williams
What is the Tickle Tongue Tree?
The Tickle Tongue Tree, with its botanical name Zanthoxylum clava herculis,is found primarily
in the eastern forests of Texas. This tree's usual habitat is a prairie. The peculiar aspect of
this tree specie is that it has the ability to numb. Historically, Native Americans would
utilize this tree's capabilities in the form of dental care. When one was experiencing pain in
the mouth, they could use a part of the tree to numb it and take the pain away, thus giving
it the name "tickle tongue."
The Tickle Tongue Tree, with its botanical name Zanthoxylum clava herculis,is found primarily
in the eastern forests of Texas. This tree's usual habitat is a prairie. The peculiar aspect of
this tree specie is that it has the ability to numb. Historically, Native Americans would
utilize this tree's capabilities in the form of dental care. When one was experiencing pain in
the mouth, they could use a part of the tree to numb it and take the pain away, thus giving
it the name "tickle tongue."
Contribution to the importance of decreasing habitat destruction: There are many reasons in which one may protest against habitat loss. As builders construct over natural land they are not only harming the organisms that exist there, but eliminating the medicinal opportunities many plants and/or animals offer. Many plant species like the Tickle Tongue Tree have the ability to heal humans and some have even been found to aid in the cure to cancer.
Commensalism with the Shrike: The Loggerhed Shrike is a small bird in North America, it has raptor qualities( Birds that prey on other animals) But doesn't have raptor's talons, meaning when preying on an animals such as Lizards, insects, or other birds, it's difficult for them to impale them for easier consumption. Luckily, the Tickle Tongue tree's bark has various spines running along it, making it easy for the Shrike to skewer their prey and eating it. The Shrike greatly benefits from the tree's bark but the tree itself does not gain anything out of the relationship
Relation to Wolf Prairie: This species of tree is located right before us in our own Wolf Prairie! This means that we as a community have the power to perhaps utilize its product, but more importantly protect it. Even if the community or society as a whole does not commonly use the numbing sap from the tree, it may come in convenience in the near future. Not only may we need it for medicinal purposes one day, but we need it to exist in the Prairie in order to maintain its balance in the ecosystem. If one species grows extinct there is a chain effect that can cause the extinction of other organisms as well.