This is a shrub growing from 2 - 5 metres tall, or a tree usually growing up to 6 metres tall, but occasionally to 15 metres. The bole is around 40cm in diameter and can be clear of branches for several metres. It is armed with spinose bosses. The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of timber. In Kenya and Tanzania Zanthoxylum usambarense is considered an important medicinal plant. A stem bark and root bark decoction is commonly taken by the Maasai people for the treatment of malaria, backache, painful joints and rheumatism and also as an emetic and purgative. They are also taken as a cough mixture and to treat pneumonia. The fruits and the leaves are chewed to treat mouth infections, intestinal worms, diarrhoea, dysentery, cough, vomiting and stomach-ache. They are also helping digestion and defecation. An infusion of the fruit is mixed with milk to treat fever, sore throat, tonsillitis and chest pains. A hot decoction of the seeds is taken to treat malignant catarrhal fever and respiratory tract infections.while the wood is used for domestic utensils, bows, beehives, stools and grain mortars. The plant is used for dying cloth; the root bark yields a yellow dye, and the stem bark yields a beige dye.