- 



88 XXV. KHAMNEiE. [Zizyph 



villages or temporary settlements. The young foliage appears in March, April, 

 while the old leaves are shedding ; there is often a second flush in July and 

 August. Fl. usually April-June, also at other seasons ; the fruit generally 

 ripens from December-March. 



A moderate-sized tree, 30-50 ft. high, stem short, erect, not very straight, 

 girth 6-8, occasionally 10 ft., branches numerous, spreading in all directions, 

 forming a broad, rounded crown, giving dense shade. Bark -1 in. thick, dark 

 grey, almost black, cut up into obliquely oblong plates by deep irregular longi- 

 tudinal furrows and short shallow cross-cracks. Inner substance reddish brown, 

 showing in cracks and furrows. Wood light-coloured when fresh-cut, turns 

 reddish brown on exposure to the air. Sapwood \ of the radius, of lighter 

 colour. According to Skinner, a cub. ft. of seasoned wood weighs 58 lb., and 

 the coefficient of transverse strength (P) is 672. Cunningham gives the follow- 

 ing figures for sap and heartwood : sap Weight 51.08, P. 330-385 ; heart 

 Weight 57.41, P. 477-513. The wood is hard, close-, and even-grained, fibrous, 

 tough and durable, a favourite material for saddle-trees (for horses' and camels' 

 saddles), also used for building, agricultural implements, Persian wheels, oil- 

 seed-crushers, well-curbs, legs of bedsteads, sandals, tent-pegs, and other pur- 

 poses. Yields good charcoal, and is valuable as fuel. 



Lakh is produced on this tree in Sindh, the Panjab, and Central India. The 

 bark is used as dye-stuff ; the root is a febrifuge in native pharmacy. A gum 

 exudes from the trunk ; and in Kangra a wild silkworm lives on the tree, the 

 silk of which was much employed formerly to tie the barrel to the stock of the 

 matchlock. But the tree is mainly cultivated for its fruit, which is more or less 

 globose on the wild and commoner sorts, and ovoid or oblong on the cultivated 

 and improved kinds. The pulp is mealy, sweetish, with a pleasant taste, and 

 some of the cultivated kinds are very*good indeed. The dried fruit of this spe- 

 cies, and possibly also of Z. vulgaris, is sold in the bazaars of the Panjab under 

 the name of una?) ; the best kind is imported from Kandahar. In South India 

 oil is extracted from the kernel. The leaves are much valued as cattle-fodder. 

 The tree is readily raised from seed : young plants do not suffer much from frost, 

 except that they lose their leaves ; they stand a good deal of drought, but their 

 roots are often eaten by rats. It thrives best on sandy loam, and on ploughed 

 land ; but it can be grown also on soils too saline for Toon, Mulberry, and 

 Sissoo. Its growth is less rapid than of Sissoo or Kikar, but it coppices with 

 great vigour, and will on that account probably prove a most valuable tree in 

 the Panjab plantations. 



5. Z. nummularia, W. & A. Prodr. 162 ; Boissier Fl. Orient, ii. 13. 

 Syn. Z. microphylla, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 613. Sometimes called Camelthorn, 

 but erroneously (see Alhagi Maurorum). Vern. Karlcanna, Afg. ; Malla, 

 her, berra, birar,j1idri,jliarberi,jand, Jcanta, IST.W. India ; Gangr, jangra, 

 Sindh. 



A thorny, bushy shrub, tomentose ; branches brown, or covered with 

 white epidermis; branchlets bifarious, flexuose, armed with twin stipu- 

 lar prickles, pilose while young, one straight, slender, very sharp, \-\ in. 

 long, the other much shorter, hooked, bent downwards. Leaves on short 

 petioles, ovate, obtuse, denticulate ; main nerves 3, with few prominent 

 lateral nerves. Flowers 10-20, in axillary, short, compact cymes ; pedicels 

 \ in. long, longer than peduncles. Calyx-lobes keeled nearly to the base; 

 petals spathulate, expanding into a broad-obovate, concave or flat lamina ; 

 disc slightly 10-lobed, 10-furrowed ; styles 2, nearly distinct. Drupe 



