RHAMNACE^. 



Nat. syst. cd. 2. p. 107. 



ZIZYPHUS. 



Calyx patent, 5-cleft. Petals obovate, unguiculate, convolute. 

 Stamens exserted : anthers ovate, 2-celled, opening longitu- 

 dinally. Disk flat, pentagonal, expanded, adnate to the tube of 

 the calyx. Ovary 2-3-celled, immersed in the disk and adnate 

 to it. Styles 2-3, diverging or combined. Fruit fleshy, contain- 

 ing a 1-2-celled nut. Seeds sessile, compressed, very smooth. 



— Shrubs or trees, with flexuose branches. Stipules usually 

 thorny, sometimes caducous. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved. 

 Cymes axillary, few-flowered, usually much shorter than the 

 leaf, often sessile. W. and A. 



321. Z. CEnoplia Mill. diet. No. 3. DC. prodr. ii. 21. 

 W. and A. i. 163. — Z. Napeca Roxb.fi. ind. i. 613. not of 

 Willd. — Common all over India. 



Branches many, large, straggling, too weak to support themselves. 

 Bark dark rust-coloured, pretty smooth ; young shoots downy. Prickles 

 stipulary, large, and exceedingly sharp, the lower one much recurved, 

 the upper one straight. Leaves short-stalked, bifarious, very obliquely 

 ovate, serrate, 3-nerved ; downy underneath, from 1 to 2 inches long. 

 Corymbs axillary, many-flowered. Style 2-cleft. Drupe the size of a 

 pea, smooth, shining, black, marked round the base with a circular 

 scar. Nut rugose, obcordate, 2-celled ; one of the cells often obliter- 

 ated. Seed solitary, erect. — The fruit is eaten by the natives; the 

 taste is a very pleasant acid. A decoction of the bark of the fresh root 

 is said to promote the healing of fresh wounds. Roxb. 



322. Z. Jujuba Lam. enc. meth. iii. 318. DC. prodr. ii. 21. 

 Roxb. fi. ind. i. 608. W. and A. i. 162. — Rhamnus Jujuba 

 Linn. sp. 282. (Rumpli. ii. t. 36. Rheede iv. t. 41.) — Various 

 parts of the East Indies and China. 



A small tree. Prickles short, often wanting. Leaves elliptical, or 

 oblong, obtuse, sometimes with a few coarse teeth at the apex, rather 

 sharp, or blunt, or slightly cordate; glabrous on the upper side, covered 

 with a close short down on the under. Cymes sessile or very shortly 

 stalked. Ovary 2-celled ; styles 2, half combined. Drupe spheroidal; 

 nut rugose, hard and thick, 2-celled. — From this and the next the 

 pleasant pectoral lozenges called Pate de Jujube are prepared when 

 genuine. Bark employed in the Moluccas as a remedy for diarhoea. 



323. Z. vulgaris Lam. illustr. t. 185. f. 1. DC. prodr. ii. 19. 



— Rhamnus Zizyphus Linn. sp. pi. 282. Pall.fi. ross. ii. t. 59. 



— Syria, Persia, Hindostan. 



165 m 3 



