24 



RHAMNEJE. II. ZIZYPHBS. 



tinople, under the name of Hunnab-agaghi, and which has for 

 a long time been imported into the west of Europe under the 

 name of Jujube. The Turks of Constantinople plant the trees 

 before their coffee-houses with other trees, to enjoy the shade 

 and fruit in their season. 



Common Jujube. El. Aug. Sept. Clt. 1640. Tree 20 feet. 



'2 Z. SINE'NSIS (Lam. diet. 3. p. 318.) leaves ovate-oblong, 

 acutely serrated, smooth ; branches pubescent ; prickles twin, 

 spreading, straightish ; petals reflexed ; drupe ovate. 1} . H. 

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

 greenish-white. Drupe eatable, brownish-yellow, ovate, fleshy, 

 and are sold in the markets of Canton during the autumn. 



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



3 Z. LOTUS (Lain. diet. 3. p. 316.) leaves ovate-oblong, 

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

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

 than the petiole ; drupe roundish-ovate. Tj . F. Native of 

 Persia, and the interior of Africa, Sicily, Spain, &c. Rhamnus 

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

 with a figure. Shaw's afr. no. 632. f. 632. This is the lotos of 

 the Lotophagi. It grows wild in Africa, especially in the kingdom 

 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 

 Syrtes, the island of Meninx (now Jerba) and the coast beyond it 

 as far as the lake and river Tritonis to the Machlies. Scylax 

 extends the name to the tribes between the two Syrtes. Ptolemy 

 limits them to the neighbourhood of the river Cinyps, while 

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

 Strabo places them in the neighbourhood of Jerba, although 

 he calls the adjoining Syrtes that of the Lotophagi. Pliny 

 assigns them, in addition to the island, the environs of the 

 Syrtes also. But the allotment of this confined space to the 

 eaters of lotos was owing to the want of a more extended 

 knowledge of the countries that border on the desert, for it 

 appears that the tribes who inhabit them eat universally of this 

 fruit, in a greater or less degree, and most of them apparently 

 as much as they can obtain of it. The Arabs know the plant 

 by the name of Scedra. It has the habit of Rhamnus, and the 

 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, 

 and laid by for winter use ; its flavour approaches nearly to that 

 of figs or dates. A kind of wine is made from the fruit by ex- 

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

 a few days. The same liquor perhaps which is fabled to have pro- 

 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, 

 J}ut (juits his house, his country, and his friends." 



Homer's Odyssey. 



Dr. Shaw says that 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 

 in the northern parts of Bambara. 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 



wooden mortar, until the farinaceous part is separated from the 

 stone. This meal is then mixed with a little water, and formed 

 into cakes, which, when dried in the sun, resemble in colour and 

 flavour the sweetest gingerbread. The stones are afterwards 

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

 the farina which may still adhere to them, this communicates a 

 sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and with the addition of 

 a little pounded millet, forms a pleasant gruel called fondi, 

 which is the common breakfast in many parts of Ludamar, 

 during the months of February and March. The fruit is col- 

 lected by spreading a cloth upon the ground, and beating the 

 branches with a stick. 



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

 Arabic name of the lotos is Nebbck, and that there are two sorts 

 of it at Dar-foor, the largest of which is called Ncbbck-cl-Arab ; 

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

 latter bearing a smaller fruit than the former, of a darker colour 

 and different flavour, which the natives eat both fresh and dry ; 

 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- 

 sant taste, and is a portable provision on journeys. 



The lotos of the Lotophagi must not be confounded with the 

 Egyptian lotos, which is Nymphcea Lotus, nor with the lotos of 

 Homer and Dioscomh-s, which is a species of Trifblium, nor 

 with the lotos of Hippocrates, which is Cellis aitstralis, nor with 

 the Italian lotos which is Diopijrus lotus. 



Lotos of the Lotophagi or Jujube Lotus. Clt. 1731. Shrub 

 2 to 4 feet. 



4 Z. MUCRONA'TA (Willd. enum. 251.) leaves ovate, cordate, 

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

 globose. fj . G. Native of the Cape of Good Hope, along the 

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

 5. p. 334. Flowers greenish-yellow. Fruit red, eatable. 



Mucronate-]ea.ved Jujube. Clt. 1810. Tree 20 feet. 



5 Z. HETEROGE'NEA (Poir. suppl. 3. p. 193.) leaves ovate, 

 acuminated, serrulated, shining ; prickles twin, one recurved ; 

 pedicels solitary, 1 -flowered. ^ H. Native of Persia. Rham- 

 nus heterogeneus, Burm, fl. ind. p. 61. Pluk. aim. t. 312. f. 4. 

 Flowers yellowish. Fruit eatable, pleasant. 



Heterogeneous Jujube. Shrub. 



6 Z. SPINA-CHRISTI (Willd. spec. 1. p. 1105.) leaves ovate, 

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

 ing, one of which is straightish, the other somewhat in- 

 curved ; peduncles corymbose, villously downy ; drupe ovate- 

 globose. Tj . H. Native of the north of Africa, in Palestine, 

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

 Rhamnus spina-Christi, Lin. spec. 282. Desf. fl. all. ].p. 201. 

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

 cana, Mill. diet. no. 4. Z. Napeca, Lam. diet. 3. p. 320. 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 

 of 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 Paliurus aculcatus is the true Christ's- 

 thorn. 



Var. ft, 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, paris 1826, 



