Flora Medica

RHAMNACEJE.Nat.syst. ed. 2. p. 107.ZIZYPHUS.Calyx patent, 5-cleft. Petals obovate, unguiculate, convolute.Stamens exserted : anthers ovate, 2-celled, opening longitudinally.Disk flat, pentagonal, expanded, adnate to the tube ofthe calyx. Ovary 2-3-celled, immersed in the disk and adnateto it.Styles 2-3, diverging or combined. Fruit fleshy, containinga 1-2-celled nut. Seeds sessile, compressed, very smooth.Shrubs or trees, with flexuose branches. Stipules usuallythorny, sometimes caducous. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved.Cymes axillary, few-flowered, usually much shorter than theleaf, often sessile. W. and A.321. Z. CEnoplia Mill. diet. No. 3. DC. ii.prodr.W. and A. i. 163. Z. i.Napeca Roxb.fl.ind. 613. notWilld. Common all over India.21.ofBranches many, large, straggling, too weak to support themselves.Bark dark rust-coloured, pretty smooth ; young shoots downy. Pricklesstipulary, large, and exceedingly sharp, the lower one much recurved,the upper one straight. Leaves short-stalked, bifarious, very obliquelyovate, serrate, 3-nerved ; downy underneath, from 1 to 2 inches long,Corymbs axillary, many-flowered. Style 2-cleft. Drupe the size of apea, smooth, shining, black, marked round the base with a circularscar. Nut rugose, obcordate, 2-celled ;one of the cells often obliterated.Seed solitary, erect. The fruit is eaten by the natives; thetaste is a very pleasant acid. A decoction of the bark of the fresh rootis said to promote the healing of fresh wounds. Roxb.322. Z. Jujuba Lam. enc. meth. iii. 318. DC. prodr.ii. 21.Roxb.fi. ind. i. 608. W. and A. i. 162. Rhamnus JujubaLinn. sp. 282. (Rumph. ii. t. 36. Rheede iv. t. 41.) Variousparts of the East Indies and China.A small tree. Prickles short, often wanting. Leaves elliptical, oroblong, obtuse, sometimes with a few coarse teeth at the apex, rathersharp, or blunt, or slightly cordate; glabrous on the upper side, coveredwith a close short down on the under.Cymes sessile or very shortlystalked. Ovary 2-celled ; styles 2, half combined. Drupe spheroidal ;nut rugose, hard and thick, 2-celled. From this and the next thepleasant pectoral lozenges called Pate de Jujube are prepared whengenuine. Bark employed in the Moluccas as a remedy for diarhoea.323. Z. vulgaris Lam. illustr. t. 185. f. 1. DC. prodr.ii. 19.Rhamnus Zizyphus Linn. sp. pi. 282. Pall.fl, ross. ii. t. 59.Syria, Persia, Hindostan.165 M 3