84 XXV. EHAMNEiE. 



\^Zizyph.u 



Ordee'XXV. RHAMNE^. 



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 4-0- 

 cleft • lobes triangular, valvate in bud. Petals generaUy 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 longitudmaUy. 

 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, l-S-seeded. 



Armed with stipular spines ; leaves 3-5-iierved ... 1. Ziztphtjs. 



Unarmed ; stipules foliaceous ; leaves with numerous promi- 

 nent parallel lateral nerves 2. Beeohemia. 



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

 ciduous 3. RSAMNUS. 



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



Armed with spinescent branches, or unarmed ; calyx-lobes 



persistent 5. Sageeetia. 



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



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, generaUy 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-ceUed ; 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 ; drupe large ; kernel 2-oelled, 



with thick, hard, osseous shell I. 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, J in. long 3. Z. CEnoplia. 

 A tree ; drupes globose oblong or ovoid, 4-f in. long, or 



longer i. z. Jujuba. 



A low thorny shrub ; drupes globose, J- J in. diam. . 5. Z. nummularia. 



