NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
Description
Shrub or small tree, deciduous, thorny, 1.5–5(10) m tall, with a lifespan of
5–20 years. Extensive root system with nitrogen-fixing nodules. Stems,
many stout branches, round greyish-green crown, brown or black rough
bark, thorny grey twigs. Leaves, alternate, almost sessile, linear to lanceolate,
enrolled margins, dark green on the upper surface, silver-grey on the
lower surface, main central vein prominent, 2–8 cm long, up to 8 mm
wide. Dioecious, anemophilous. Flowers, unisexual; male flowers in catkin-like
spikes, 2-sepalled calyx, brown-spotted ovate sepals, 4 stamens
and no corolla; female flowers in short racemes of 2–5 flowers at the axils
of the small branches, one pistil; calyx is a tight tube clasping the ovary
with erect, inward-inclined tips, brown and reed-like on the outside. The
flowers are covered with brownish scaly hairs. The pollinate greenish
flowers appear before the leaves. Fruits, oval drupes, 3–11 mm long,
3–5(9) mm in diameter, turn yellow to orange when mature and persist
through winter. Seeds, ovate-oblong, 3–7 mm long, 3–5 mm in diameter,
dark brown to black, shiny (4, 8, 9, 20, 22, 27–32).
Plant material of interest: ripe fresh berries
General appearance
The fruit is an oval, ovoid or subglobose drupe, with or without peduncle.
The fruit contains an embryo encased in a seed coat that is surrounded by
a thin seed sac or pericarp, all of which is enclosed in the hypanthium
(fleshy portion of the fruit). The shape and colour of the fruits vary. Length
between 3.5 and 11 mm and diameter up to 8.8 mm. The colour varies
from yellow or bright orange to reddish orange or brownish orange. The
content of carotenoids is higher in reddish-orange fruits. The fruits are
easily crushed. The seed is oblong, smooth, shiny, with a longitudinal furrow,
colour ranges from light or dark brown to nearly black. The average
weight of 100 seeds is 1.6–2.1 g, and that of 100 berries is 57–96 g. Harvesting
by removing the pedicel from the fruit, rips the epidermis, exposes
fruit flesh and results in loss of juice from the fruit (4, 9, 33–35).
Organoleptic properties
Odour: light and pleasant; taste: acid, pineapple-like (9, 33, 34, 36).
Microscopic characteristics
The hypanthium, a false fruit, consists of epicarp and mesocarp. The epicarp
has polygonal or polygonal-oval cells with straight irregularly thickened
walls and it is confluent with the exterior of the peduncle. The epider-
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