84 XXV. RHAMNEiE. [Zizyph 



Order XXV. RHAMNE^ffi. 



Trees or shrubs, often armed with spinescent branches or stipular 

 spines. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite. Flowers small, often 

 unisexual, green or yellow. Inflorescence generally cymose. Calyx 4-5- 

 cleft ; lobes triangular, valvate in bud. Petals generally present, inserted 

 on the calyx-tube near the edge, and alternate with its segments. Stamens 

 opposite the petals, and often enclosed by them, inserted with the petals 

 or on the edge of the disc ; anthers 2-celled, bursting longitudinally. 

 Disc annular cupular or coating the calyx-tube. Ovary free, or more or 

 less adhering to the calyx-tube, 2- or 3-celled, rarely 4-celled, with one 

 erect ovule in each cell. Fruit various, with 1-3 seeds, with or without 

 albumen, and a large embryo. Gen. PL i. 371 ; Eoyle 111. 168; Wight 

 111. i. 179. 



Fruit a fleshy, rarely dry drupe or berry, 1-3-seeded. 



Armed with stipular spines ; leaves 3-5-nerved ... 1. Ztzyphus. 



Unarmed ; stipules foliaceous ; leayes with numerous promi- 

 nent parallel lateral nerves ...... 2. Berchemia. 



Armed with spinescent branches, or unarmed ; calyx-lobes de- 

 ciduous 3. Rhamnus. 



Unarmed ; branches of cymes swell into a fleshy mass . . 4. Hovenia. 



Armed with spinescent branches, or unarmed ; calyx -lobes 



persistent ......... 5. Sageretia. 



Fruit a dry 1-seeded nut, terminating in a long narrow wing . 6. Ventilago. 



1. ZIZYPHUS, Juss. 



Shrubs or trees, generally armed with stipular spines. Leaves alter- 

 nate, more or less distichous, petiolate, with 3-5 main nerves from the 

 base. Flowers small, mostly bisexual, generally in axillary cymes. 

 Calyx-tube cup-shaped, or broad-obconical; limb 5-cleft, the divisions keeled 

 inside. Petals sometimes wanting, generally 5 ; lamina more or less con- 

 cave or hood-shaped. Disc coating the calyx-tube, edge free, pentagonous 

 or 5-10-lobed. Ovary immersed in disc, more or less confluent with it, 2- 

 celled, rarely 3- or 4-celled ; styles 2-3, free or partly connate. Drupe 

 fleshy, kernel generally woody or osseous, 1 -3-celled, 1 seed in each 

 cell. Seeds with a smooth, brittle testa ; albumen thin, enclosing the 

 embryo ; cotyledons thick, flat, or convex ; radicle short. 



Drupe fleshy ; kernel 1 -2-celled. 



Cymes axillary, nearly sessile ; petals 5. 

 Glabrous ; young parts only pubescent. 



Branchlets often fasciculate ; drape large ; kernel 2-celled, 



with thick, hard, osseous shell . . . . . 1. Z. vulgaris. 



Branchlets single ; drupe small ; kernel 2-celled, with thin 



crustaceous shell . . . . . . . 2. Z. oxyphylla. 



More or less tomentose. 



A straggling or climbing shrub ; drupes small, \ in. long 3. Z. CEnoplia. 

 A tree ; drapes globose oblong or ovoid, ^-| in. long, or 



longer . . . . . . . . . 4. Z. Jujuba. 



A low thorny shrub; drupes globose, %-\ in. diam. . . 5. Z. nummularla. 



