172 



XXXV. RHAMNACEtE 



[Zizyphus 



A straggling deciduous shrub, often climbing, occasionally a small tree, 

 trunk often 2-3 ft. girth, armed with short recurved, often solitary spines, 

 bark dark brown or black, exfoliating with rectangular scales. Branchlets, 

 inflorescence, young spines and underside of leaves densely clothed with ferru- 

 gineous or grey tomentum. L. ovate or elliptic, from an oblique often cordate 

 base, blade 2-5, petiole \ in., basal nerves 3, rarely 4 or 5, prominent, as well 

 as the sec. n. along midrib, and on the outside of the lateral nerves. 

 Cymes large, pedunculate, axillary and terminal, forming a long compound 

 generally drooping panicle. Petals none. Drupe \ in. long, stone crustaceous, 

 1-celled, 1-seeded. 



Subhimalayan tract from the Ganges eastward, ascending to 2,000 ft. Behar, Central 

 India, Western Peninsula. Burma, (Shan Hills to 4,000 ft.). Fl. Nov.-March. Ceylon. 

 14. Z. funiculosa, Ham. Assam, Cacliar, Khasi hills, Upper Burma (Griffith). Glabrous. 

 L. shining elliptic, acuminate, blade 3, jjetiole J in. long, transverse (tertiary) nerves 

 parallel, very numerous ; a few faint sec. n. on the outside of the outer basal nerves. 

 Fl. 1 in. across. 



4. RHAMNUS, Linn.; El. Brit Ind. i. G38. 



Shrubs or trees. L. serrate, alternate, in some species subopposite, stipules 

 small, mostly deciduous. PI. often unisexual, calyx segments inside keeled, or 

 with a prominent line, petals sometimes wanting, disk thin, clothing the calyx 

 tube, petals and stamens inserted on its edge. Ovary free, 3-4-cellecl, narrowed 

 into a 3-4-cleft style, stigma papillose, obtuse. Drupe on the persistent but 

 not enlarged base of calyx, pyrenes 2-4, 1-seeded. Cotyledons flat, or with 

 recurved margins, often green, radicle short. Species 60-70, mostly in the 

 northern temperate zone, some on hills within the tropics. 



A. Spinescent. El. 4-merous, petals minute. 



1. R. virgatus,* Eoxb. ; Brandis F. El. 92.— Syn. B. dahuricus, Fl. Brit. 

 Ind. i. 639 ; E. hirsutus, W. et A. ; Wight Ic. t. 978 ; Chakra, Sita pajja, 

 Pb. ; Chaulda, Thanthar, Jauns. 



A large shrub or small tree, heartwood brown, hard, pores in wavy radial 

 belts, branchlets often spinescent, young shoots pubescent. L. membranous, 

 almost opposite, glabrous, frequently fascicled on arrested branchlets, lanceolate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, blade 1-4, petiole \-\ in. long. El. greenish, on slender 

 pedicels, in axillary clusters, petals minute, linear or spathulate. Seed grooved, 



groove narrow, nearly closed. 



Trans-Indus, Himalaya, 2,400-7,000 

 ft., from the Indus eastward. Mani- 

 pur. Shan hills, Upper Burma, 4,000 

 ft. Fl. April- June, also at other 

 times. 2.R. persicus, Boissier. Trans- 

 Indus, Salt range, North-West Hima- 

 laya 2-5,000 ft. {Nikki Kander, Pb. ; 

 Chirla, Dun). A tall shrub with stiff 

 divaricate branches. L. J-1J in., 

 minutely tomentose beneath. Seeds 

 with a wide open groove, the edges 

 thickened. 



B. Unarmed, 

 petals 5. 



Fl. 



o-merous, 



3. R. Wightii, W. et A.; 

 Wight Ic. t. 159. 



A large shrub. L. subcoriace- 



ous, turning black in drying, 



Fig. 80— Khamnus Wightii, W. et A, A. mostly alternate, closely and re- 



* : JRhamnus is masc. ace. to Linnaeus, Bentham and Fl. Brit. Ind. 



