ZIZYPHUS JUJUBA. (Nat. order Rhamneas.) 



ZlZYPHUS. Juss. — GEN\ CHAR. Calyx 5-lobed, spreading, Petals hood-shaped or rarely none. Stamens 5 included in the petals or scarcely 

 exceeding them when present, disk flit, filliug the short calyx-tube, ovary immersed in the disk, 2, rarely 3 or 4 celled, style shortly branched or styles 

 distinct, stigmas small, drupe ovoid or globular, putamen woody or bony, 1 to 4 celled, 1 to 4 seeded, seeds with a smooth fragile testa, albumen none 

 or scanty, cotyledons thick. Trees or shrubs, usually armed with stipular prickles, leaves alternate, 3 or 5 nerved, often distichous and very oblique, flowers 

 small, greeuish, in axillary cymes, fruit often edible. 



ZlZYPHUS JuJUBA.. (Lam.) Generally a middling sized tree with, short stipulary solitary or twin prickles wliich 

 are sometimes wanting leaves ovate or nearly orbicular acute or obtuse entire or toothed 3-nerved glabrous or subglabrous above, 

 covered beneath (as well as the petioles and branchlets) with a close white or rusty tomentum, 1-3 inches long. Cymes small compact 

 and very short, ovary 2-celIed tapering into a short 2-lobed style, drupe globular usually about h to £ inch in diameter, 2 (or by 

 abortion) 1-celled. Lam. Enc. Meth. 3 jj. 318. 



This is the well known Ber tree, very common, both wild and cultivated throughout this Presidency, and extending all over tropical Asia, 

 Africa and Australia ; it is called Ber in Eindostanee, Rengha in Telugu, and Yellande in Tamil, and Hyee bin in Birmah ; thexoood, is strong 

 and much in list for many purposes, particularly for saddle-trees and sandals, and is adapted for cabinet and ornamental work, and makes good 

 charcoal ; it is close and even grained, hard and durable, when fresh cut of a yellowish-red colcr, turning to reddish-brown ; a cubic foot unseason- 

 ed weighs 72-75 lbs, and seasoned 58 lbs., and it has a specific gravity of - 928. Thedrawinjis taken from a toild specimen ; the extreme forms of the 

 wild and cultivxtei tree differ considerably, but they run one into another and could not be separated even as varieties; the fruit of the cultivated ' 

 tree is much larger than the wild, and is often eaten, being sweet and mealy, and some varieties are said to be delicious ; the bark is employed by 

 tanners, and a kind of kino is produced fron it, which, together with the bark, root, seeds and leaves, is in use medicinally with the natives. The 

 tree is most abundant in the plains, but in rare casis ascends to an elevation of about 4000 feet ; cultivated trees have been known to reach a girth 

 of about 10 feet ; a lac used for dyeing is found in the rains on a variety in the Punjab. 



149 



