Ziziphus. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 359 



Root superficial, sending up many suckers for some yards round 

 the tree.— Trunk generally crooked. Bark brown, pretty smooth ; 

 branches few, flexuose, and thin of leaves. — Spines stipulary, the up- 

 per one straight, long, and pointing much forward, the other shorter 

 and recurved.— Leaves alternate, short-petioled, obliquely oblong, 

 emarginate, three-nerved, seriate, smooth, of a shining °reen on both 

 sides, from one to two inches long.— Flowers axillary, few, collected 

 on short common peduncles ; they are small, yellow, semi-digynous. 

 — Drupe oblong, pendulous and smooth, about an inch long, when 

 ripe pale-yellow. Nut lanceolate, pointed at both ends, a little com- 

 pressed, rugose, two-celled. 



The fruits are eaten, but to my taste they are rather insipid. Innu- 

 merable suckers constantly rise from the root which run to a great 

 distance from the parent tree, and make it a troublesome plant in a 

 garden, but at the same time they render it easily propagated, if neces- 

 sary. 



7. Z. Lotus, Lamarck encychp. iii. 304. Illustr. 1. 185. f. 2. 

 Arboreous ; spines stipulary, one long, slender, and straight, the 



other recurved. Leaves oval, three-nerved, most slightly crenulate* 

 serrate, smooth on both sides. Flowers axillary, style two-cleft. 



Z. Lotus, Willd. i. 1103. 



A native of Persia, &c. : blossoms in the hot season in the botanic 

 garden at Calcutta. It is readily known from its Indian congeners 

 by the whiteness of its bark, and the pale-yellow tinge of its long 

 and very slender prickles. 



8. Z. elliptica, R. 



Arboreous. Thorns paired, the upper one rather incurved, the un- 

 der one recurved. Leaves elliptically oval, serrulate, three-nerved, 

 pale underneath. Corymbs axillary, dichotomous. Flowers semi-tri- 

 gynous. 



A stout straight tree, a native of Tranvancore, from thence intro* 



