Ziziphus joazeiro

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Rhamnaceae

Deciduous or evergreen , often thorny trees , shrubs , woody climbers , or lianas, rarely herbs. Leaves simple , petiolate , alternate or opposite, pinnately veined or 3-5-veined, entire to serrate, sometimes much reduced; stipules small, caducous or persistent , sometimes transformed into spines. Flowers yellowish to greenish, rarely brightly colored , small, bisexual or unisexual , rarely polygamous, (4 or) 5-merous, hypogynous to epigynous , in mostly axillary , sessile or pedunculate cymes, or reduced to few in fascicles. Calyx tube patelliform or hemispherical to tubular , sometimes absent, at rim with calyx, corolla, and stamens; sepals 4 or 5, valvate in bud, triangular, erect or ± recurved during anthesis , adaxially often distinctly keeled , alternate with petals. Petals 4 or 5, rarely absent, usually smaller than sepals, concave or hooded , rarely nearly flat, often shortly clawed. Stamens 4 or 5, antepetalous and often ± enclosed by petals; filaments thin, adnate to bases of petals; anthers minute, versatile or not, 2(or 4) -celled, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, usually introrse . Disk intrastaminal , nectariferous , thin to ± fleshy , entire or lobed , glabrous or rarely pubescent , free from ovary or tightly surrounding it, or adnate to calyx tube. Ovary superior to inferior, (1 or) 2-4-loculed, with 1(or 2) ovules per locule; ovules anatropous , basal and erect; styles simple or ± deeply 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Fruit either an indehiscent, rarely explosively dehiscent , sometimes winged , schizocarpic capsule, or a ± fleshy drupe with 1-4 indehiscent, rarely dehiscent, pyrenes (stones ) . Seeds with thin, oily albumen, sometimes exalbuminous ; embryo large, oily, straight or rarely bent.

About 50 genera and more than 900 species: almost cosmopolitan , mainly in subtropical to tropical areas; 13 genera and 137 species (82 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

Former classifications usually placed Rhamnaceae in the Rhamnales, together with Vitaceae and Leeaceae (Suessenguth in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 20d. 1953), or together with Elaeagnaceae (Thorne, Bot. Rev. 58: 225-348. 1992) . Orders such as Celastrales, Urticales, and Euphorbiales have often been considered as closely related groups. Recent analyses of DNA sequences strongly supported including the family in the Rosales, beside the closest relatives Barbeyaceae and Dirachmaceae (see Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 141: 399-436. 2003) . Suessenguth (loc. cit. ) grouped the family into five tribes , mainly characterized by fruit characters. Richardson et al. (Kew Bull . 55: 311-340. 2000; Amer. J. Bot. 87: 1309-1324. 2000) revised this tribal classification on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis using rbcL and trnL-F sequences of the plastid genome. Now 11 tribes are recognized, of which four are represented in the Flora area.



The bark , leaves, and fruit of several species of Rhamnus have been used as laxatives , notably R. cathartica and R. frangula. Diverse Old World species of Rhamnus provide yellow and green dyes as well as drugs. Timber of Alphitonia, Colubrina, Hovenia, and Ziziphus species is used for construction, fine furniture, carving, lathework, and musical instruments. Many Ziziphus species yield edible fruit; among them, Z. jujuba (Chinese jujube) and Z. mauritiana (Indian jujube) are cultivated on a commercial scale. Hovenia dulcis is also grown for its edible, fleshy inflorescence stalks . Species of Hovenia, Paliurus, and Rhamnus are cultivated as ornamentals .[1]

Genus Ziziphus

Shrubs or small to medium-sized trees , erect or straggling, often climbing , evergreen or deciduous, often spinose . Leaves alternate, petiolate , distinctly triplinerved or rarely pinnately veined; stipules usually transformed into 1 or 2, erect or ± recurved spines. Flowers yellow-green, small, bisexual , in axillary corymblike cymes, or axillary or terminal thyrses . Calyx tube shallow, patelliform to hemispherical. Sepals ovate-triangular or triangular, adaxially ± distinctly keeled . Petals clawed, obovate or spatulate , rarely absent. Disk shallow, fleshy , 5-10-lobed. Ovary superior, globose , 2- or 3(or 4) -loculed; style ± deeply branched, 2(-4) -fid. Fruit a single-stoned, (1 or) 2- or 3-loculed, globose or oblong drupe, base with persistent calyx tube, apex mucronulate ; mesocarp fleshy or soft corky; endocarp cartilaginous or woody, locules 1-seeded. Seeds without endosperm or rarely with endosperm; cotyledon thickening.

About 100 species: mainly in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia and the Americas, a few species in Africa and temperate regions ; 12 species (six endemic) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 770 meters (0 to 2,526 feet).[3]

Biology

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Mart. Publication : Reise Bras. (Spix & Mart.) ii. 581. 1828

Similar Species

Members of the genus Ziziphus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 25 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

Z. celata (Florida Ziziphus) · Z. incurva (Indian Jujube) · Z. joazeiro (Joazeiro) · Z. jujuba (Chinese Jujube) · Z. jujuba var. stenocarpa (Chinese Jujube) · Z. lotus (Lotus Jujube) · Z. lotus lotus (Lotustree) · Z. mauritiana (Chinese Date) · Z. mistol (Mistol) · Z. montana (Mountain Jujube) · Z. nummularia (Jujube) · Z. obtusifolia (Graythorn) · Z. obtusifolia var. canescens (Gray Thorn) · Z. obtusifolia var. obtusifolia (Graythorn) · Z. oenoplia (Small-Fruited Jujube) · Z. parryi (Parry's Jujube) · Z. reticulata (Cacao Rojo) · Z. rignonii (Soana) · Z. rugosa (Wrinkled Jujube) · Z. spina-christi (Christs Thorn) · Z. spinosa (Spiny Jujube) · Z. taylorii (Taylor's Jujube) · Z. zizyphus (Chinese Plum) · Z. zizyphus 'Lang' (Common Jujube) · Z. zizyphus 'Li' (Chinese Plum)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [Washington, D.C.?]: Supt. of Docs., G.P.O., 1913-1923. url .
• Inventory of seeds and plants imported / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1914-1924. url , p. 171, p. 183, p. 65, p. 91.
• Memo?rias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro. url p. 163.
• Pamphlets on silviculture. [1899- url p. 765.
• Chen Yi-ling and Chou Pan-kai. 1982. Rhamnaceae. In: Chen Yi-ling, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 48(1): i-vi, 1-169.
• Chen Yi-ling and Chou Pan-kai. 1982. Rhamnaceae. In: Chen Yi-ling, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 48(1): i-vi, 1-169.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 16, 2008:

• Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3462059
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15818237
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:719329-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 719329-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 958091

Footnotes

1. Yilin Chen & Carsten Schirarend "Rhamnaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 115,355. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Ziziphus". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 115, 116, 119. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Mean = -56.520 meters (-185.433 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,353.330 based on 27 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.