Zanthoxylum ekmanii (Urb.) Alain,Contr. Ocas. Mus. Hist. Nat. Colegio "De La Salle" 9: 24. 1950; Fagara ekmanii Urb.; Z. belizense Lundell.

Arboles, (5) 10-30 m de alto, troncos armados con acúleos, sometimes ramitas, leaf rachis and leaflet midrib with numerous straight spines, without short-shoots, without zig-zag growth form; apical bud ca 8 mm wide, densely stellate pubescent; ramitas 5-10 mm wide, sparse to densely stellate pubescent, glabrescent. Hojas alternately evenly distributed, imparipinnadas or paripinnate, 23.5-63 cm de largo, rachis terete, 2-6 mm de ancho; folíolos 12-25, lateral folíolos oblongos, 7-15.5 cm de largo 1.3-5.3 cm de ancho, ápice acute-short cuspidate (rarely acuminado), base inaequilateral acute or obtuse and rounded (rarely equilateral acute), margen serrulate to entire,sometimes slightly revoluto at least at base, dense to abundant stellate pubescent, membranous, (14) 20-25 pairs of secondary veins; petioule 1-3 mm de largo and sessile on rounded side. Panículas terminales, 11-30 cm de largo, 4-5 times branched, rachis terete to quadrate, estrellado-pubescentes; pedicels 0.6-1 mm de largo y 0.2-0.3 mm de ancho, stellate-pubescent; flowers 5-merous; sépalos ovate, 1/4 length of pétalos, sparse to densely stellate-pubescent, ciliate, persistent; pétalos ca 1.3 mm de largo; carpels 2 (3). Folículos 2 or 1 and remains of 1 (or 2) aborted carpels, free, 3-5 mm de largo, glabrous or sparsely stellate, without stipe; seeds 3-4 mm de largo.

Rara, bosques húmedos, zona atlántica; 40–300 m; fr feb-mar; Moreno 27292, Prado 204; Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz), Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Cuba. This species was treated in the published Flora de Nicaragua as Zanthoxylum belizense.