I planted a Sichuan pepper from OGW this year and it already bore a couple dozen fruits with seeds with no other peppercorn anywhere nearby, so I can vouch for this specimen at least. Interestingly OGW themselves mention that cross-pollination is necessary, but this does not seem to be the case. This is in a very cool spring climate where pollination can be a challenge.
I did not take a picture of the flowers but I believe the flowers looked like the picture posted by JohannsGarden with no visible pollen.
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I also planted a Sichuan pepper from One Green World and mine fruited this year. I did also plant a Sansho pepper from them next to it as they recommended, but I donāt remember seeing it flower.
One Green World recently posted their 2025 catalogue, and I noticed that they updated the description for the Sichuan pepper to include āThough often reported to be dioecious, we have seen lone individuals bearing seeds without any other Sechuan Pepper plants around, but planting two for good cross-pollination can ensure better cropsā, though the listing on the website still says āRequires pollination with Sansho to produce Sechuan peppercorns.ā
Now Iām trying to get my hands on a female Sansho pepper, because Iād really like to have Sansho peppercorns too. I also saw that Planting Justice (which is more local to me) has Sansho now, so I might try and go visit when they are flowering to see if I can pick out the female ones.
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Sichuan pepper doesnāt need pollination partners. One tree is more than enough even for a family of Sichuan natives. Seriously, what do you guys do with the peppers? I am a Chinese but I donāt use it much.
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Looking at your pictures, those look extremely similar to a wild plant Iāve seen growing around here in multiple places. I donāt have a picture to compare for sure, but Iām wondering if it is or its something related to it.
Itās a bummer most all available seem to be apomictic, because they say they can only take down to -15 and that might freeze down every so often and I was liking the idea planting out a handful of seeds for the most cold hardy.
You donāt even need them to grow big enough to fruit. The foliage is just as flavorful. In fact, even lightly brushing against the foliage is enough to fill the air around it with strong Szechuan pepper aroma.
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Zanthoxylum americanum is native to your area I think. Could be that. I donāt know how similar the flavor is.
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