24 



RHAMNEiE. II. Zizyphus. 



s 





f 



tinople, under tlie^ name of Hunnab-agaghi, and which has for wooden mortar, until the farinaceous part is separated from the 



a long time heen imported into the west of Europe under the stone. This meal is then mixed with a httle water, and formed 



name of Jujube. The Turks of Constantinople plant the trees into cakes, which, when dried in the sun, resemble in colour and 



before their coffee-houses with other treeSj to enjoy the shade flavour the sweetest gingerbread. The stones are afterwards 



and fruit in their season. 



put into a vessel of water, and shaken about so as to separate 

 Common Jujube. Fl. Aug. Sept. Clt. 1G40. Tree 20 feet. the farina which may still adhere to them, this communicates a 

 2 Z. Sine'nsis (Lam. diet. 3. p. 318.) leaves ovate-oblong, sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and with the addition of 



acutely serrated, smooth ; branches pubescent ; prickles twin, 

 spreading, straightish ; petals reflexed ; drupe ovate. Tj . H. 

 Native of China. Rhamnus Zizyphus, Lour, fl.coch. 158. Flowers 



a little pounded millet, forms a pleasant 



fondi 



which is the common breakfast in many parts of Ludamar, 



March. The fruit is col- 



greenish-white. Drupe eatable, brownish-yellow, ovate, fleshy, lected by spreading a cloth upon ''the ground, and beating the 



and are sold in the markets of Canton durini>: the autumn. 



Chinese Jujube. Clt. 1818. Shrub 4 to 5 feet. 



3 Z, Lotus (Lam. diet. 3, p. 31G.) leaves ovate-oblong, 

 obsoletely crenated, and are, as well as the branches, smooth; 

 prickles twin, one of them recurved, the other straight, longer 



branches with a stick. 



■ ■ ■' ' . r 



Mr. Browne, in his Travels in Africa, informs us that the 

 Arabic name of the lotos is Nehbek^ and that there are two sorts 

 of it at Dar-foor, the largest of which is cdWeii Nebbek-eU Arab ; 

 the one a shrub the other a tree, both equally thorny. The 

 than the petiole; drupe roundish-ovate. T2 . F. Native of latter bearing a smaller fruit than the former, of a darker colour 

 rersia, and the interior of Africa, Sicily, Spain, &:c. Rhamnus and different flavour, which the natives eat botli fresh and dry; 

 Lotus, Lin. spec. 281. Desf. act. par. 1788. t. 21. Park's trav. 



This is the lotos of 



with a figure. 



Shaw's afr. no. 632. f. 632. 



for it dries on the tree and remains the greater part of the winter 

 months. In that state it is formed into a paste, of not unplea- 



the Lotophagi. It grows wild in Africa, especially in tlie kingdom sant taste, and is a portable provision on journeys. 



of Tunis, in a tract called Jereed^ which was formerly the country 

 of the Lotophagi. The Lotophagi, as the Greeks call them, 

 possessed a considerable part of the sea-coast, between the two 



The lotos of the Lotophagi must not be confounded with the 



Egyptian lotosj which is Nymphcea Ldtus, nor with the lotos of 

 Houier - -- - - - . - - - _ _ . _ 



and Dioscorides, which is 



(/' 



Syrtes, the island of Meninx (now Jerba) and the coast beyond it with the lotos of Hippocrates, which is Cellis austrdlis, nor with 



as far as the lake and river Tritonis to the Machlies. Scylax the Italian lotos which is Diopijrus lotus. 



extends the name to the tribes between the two Syrtes. Ptolemy Lotos of the Lotophagi or Jujube Lotus. Clt. 1731. Shrub 



limits them to the neighbourhood of the river Cinyps, while 2 to 4 feet. 



Herodotus appears to confine them to the west of that river. 



4 Z. MucROKA^TA (Willd. cnum. 251.) leaves ovate, cordate, 



crenated, smooth ; prickles twin, one recurved ; drupe somewhat 



Strabo places them in the neighbourhood of Jerba, although 



he calls the adjoining Syrtes that of the Lotophagi. Pliny globose. Tj . G. Native of die Cape of Good Hope, along the 



them, in addition to the island, the environs of the - - - ~ 



assi^rns 



banks of the river Cariep. Z. bubalina, Licht. ex Schult. syst 

 Syrtes also. But the allotment of this confined space to the 5. p. 334. Flowers greenish-yellow. Fruit red, eatable, 

 eaters of lotos was owing to the want of a more extended MMcron^f^-leaved Jujube. Clt, 1810. Tree 20 feet, 



knowledge of the countries that border on the desert, for it 5 Z. heteroge'nea (Poir. suppl. 3. p. 193.) leaves ovate, 



appears that the tribes who inhabit them eat universally of this acuminated, serrulated, 



shining 



prickles twin, one recurved; 



fruit, in a greater or less degree, and most of them apparently pedicels solitary, 1-flowered. Tj . H. Native of Persia. Rham 

 as much as they can obtain of it. The Arabs know the plant nus heterogeneus, Burm, fl. ind. p. 61.— Pluk. aim. t. 312. f. 4. 

 by the name of Seedra. It has the habit of Rhamnus, and the Flowers yellowish. Fruit eatable, pleasant. 



flowers of the common Jujube. But the fruit is smaller, rounder, 

 .and sweeter, the' size of sloes, containing large stones ; they are 

 borne on every part of the plant, like gooseberries ; they have a 

 purplish tinge. 'The farinaceous pulp is separated from the stone, 



Het 



Shrub. 



(Willd 



■ 



p. 1105.) leaves ovate, 



toothed, smooth, or pubescent beneath ; prickles twin, spread- 



. > • . - * . ^"gj one of which is straightish, the other somewhat in- 



and^laid by for wmter use ; its flavour approaches nearly to that curved; peduncles corymbose, villously downy; drupe ovate- 



A kind of wine is made from the fruit by ex- globose. Tj . H. Native of the north of Africa, in Palestine, 

 - . and Ethiopia, also in date plantations, near Tozer, and in Egypt 



afew^days. The same hquoi^perhapswdiich is fabled to have pro- Rhamnus spina-Christi, Lin. spec. 282. Desf. fl. atl. l.p. 201. 



Rliamnus Nabeca, Forsk. segyp. 204. but not of Lin. Z. Afri- 



.of figs or' dates. 



prcssion, and diluted with water, but this will not keep more than 

 a fe>v days. The same liquor perhaps which is fabled to have pre 

 duced such extraordinary effects on the companions of Ulysses. 



** The trees around them all their food produce. 

 Lotos the name divine, nectareous juice, 

 Thence called Lotophagi, which whoso tastes, 

 Insatiate' riots in their sweet repasts, 

 Nor other home nor other care intends, 

 But quits his house, his country, and his friends." 



\ 



Homer's Odyssey. 



Dr. Shaw says th^t the fruit is common in the deserts, and other 

 parts of Barbary, is still in great repute, and sold in the mar- 

 kets .all over the southern districts of those kingdoms. Mr. 

 ^Park says .he discovered the lotos to abound in all the countries 

 .of Africa he traversed, flourishing most in a sandy soil, but 

 in the greatest plenty in the kingdoms of Kaarta Ludamar, and thorn. 



cana, Mill. diet. no. 4. Z. Napeca, Lam. diet. 3. p. S20. Na- 

 bca, Alp. eg. 2. t. 4. p. 10. CEnoplia spinosa, Bauh. pin. 477. 

 Ger. emac. append, t. 1605. Branches whitish. Flowers yel- 

 lowish-green. Fruit oblong, about the size of a sloe, with a 

 pleasant taste, furnishing a very pleasant food to the inhabitants 

 <>f Egypt and Arabia. Hasselquist thinks this is the tree which 

 afforded the crown of thorns put on the head of Christ, as it is 

 common in the East, and is very fit for the purpose, being fur- 

 nished with many sharp spines well adapted to give pain. The 

 crown might be made of the round pliant branches, and what 

 seems to be the greatest proof is, that the leaves much resemble 

 those of ivy. But notwithstanding what Hasselquist says, we 

 are still of opinion that the Paliuriis aculeatus is the true Christ's- 



in the northern parts of Bambara. r The fruit small, farinaceous 

 berries, of a yellow colour and delicious taste. The natives, he 

 says, convert them into a sort of bread, by exposing them some 

 days to the sun, and afterwards pounding them gently in a 



Far. /3, inermis (D. C. prod. 2. p. 20.) prickles wanting; 

 leaves large, very blunt. Tj . H.— Clus. hist. 1. p. 27. 



Christ' s-thorn. Fl. Aug. Sept. Clt. 1759. Shrub 8 feet. 

 7 Z. PARviFOLiA (Del. voy. a Meroe a fleuveblanc. naris 1826. 





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