WorldFloraDB - Ziziphus mucronata

Characteristics

Shrubs or small trees to 15(–30) m. tall, armed with spinous stipules or rarely unarmed.. Bark of bole dark grey, smooth to rough to corrugated;slash-wood crimson, soft.. Year-old branches often zig-zag.. Leaf-blades ovate, (2–)3–6(–8) cm. long, (l.3–)2–3.5(–4.7) cm. wide, at base often markedly asymmetrical, rounded or rarely very shallowly cordate, acute, often acuminate or rarely obtuse, serrulate, 3-nerved from base, the nerves of the dull upper surface only slightly if at all impressed; petioles 2–7 mm. long.. Cymes (5–)10–15 mm. long, and about as thick, (3–)7–25-flowered; peduncles 1–3 mm. long; pedicels 1–3 mm. long in flower, 3–5 mm. long in fruit.. Sepals 1.5–2 mm. long, spreading in flower.. Petals 1–1.5 mm. long, spreading in flower.. Ovary 2-celled; stigmas 2.. Fruit globose, 12–20 mm. thick, reddish or reddish brown at maturity.

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A shrub or small tree. It grows up to 9 m tall. It has many sharp thorns. It has spreading and often drooping branches. The trunk is often crooked. The leaves are simple and alternate. They are shiny and have 3 veins from the base. The leaves are 2.5-8 cm long by 1.9-8 cm wide. Leaves and young plant parts can be hairy. There can be thorns at the nodes. The flowers are small and green. The flowers are in small clusters in the axils of leaves. The fruit are round. They are red and shiny. There is a sweet mealy pulp around a large seed.

Tree or shrub, 1-20 m high; sometimes decumbent or with rhizomes, often spinescent. Leaves alternate, petioled, entire or toothed, palmately veined. Flowers small, in short, axillary cymes. Calyx 5-fid; lobes keeled within. Petals 5(0), shorter than sepals, spathulate, usually clawed. Disc flat, adhering to calyx tube. Stamens 5, inserted outside disc, reflexed. Ovary superior, immersed in disc; styles 2-fid, stigmas papillose. Fruit a drupe, sometimes the size of a cherry. Seeds usually solitary, ± suborbicular, compressed.

Leaf-lamina ovate to broadly ovate, 4–7·7 × 2·8–4·7 cm., apex obtuse to acute or often mucronate, margin serrulate, base subcordate, markedly asymmetric, 3-nerved from the base, glabrous, glabrescent to tomentose; petiole up to 7 mm. long, glabrescent to tomentose; stipules usually spinescent, usually one hooked and one straight at each node.

Thorny shrub or small tree, 1-2(-20) m tall. Leaves drooping, ovate, 3-nerved from base, glossy, dentate, stipules paired, usually thorny, one straight and one hooked. Flowers in compact axillary cymes, green. Fruit a round drupe, with reddish brown to dark red leathery skin.

Often an individual will show a tendency not to produce spines, but usually a few branches on the tree can be found with spinescent stipules.

Cymes glabrescent to tomentose, sessile or shortly pedunculate; pedicels (1) 2 (-5) mm. long.

In seedlings the leaves are small and the spinescent stipules well-developed.

Petals cucullate with the limb ± 1 mm. in diam. and the claw 0·5 mm. long.

Shrub or tree to 12 m. in height; branchlets glabrous or pubescent.

Ovary immersed in the disk; style shortly 2-fid, up to 2 mm. long.

An erect or scandent shrub (or, in other parts of Africa, a tree)

Stamens with filaments up to 2 mm. long.

Fruits globose, c. 1·5 cm. in diam.

Sepals up to 2 mm. long, deltate.

Disk 2 mm. in diam., 10-lobed.

Dark reddish-brown branchlets

Flowers greenish-yellow.

Seeds compressed.

Life form	perennial
Growth form	tree
Growth support	free-standing
Foliage retention	deciduous
Sexuality	hermaphrodite
Pollination	entomogamy
Spread	-
Mature width (meter)	-
Mature height (meter)	7.0 - 12.0
Root system	rhizome
Rooting depth (meter)	4.75
Root diameter (meter)	-
Flower color
Blooming months	-
Fruit color
Fruiting months	-
Nitrogen fixer	-
Photosynthetic pathway	c3

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows in the lowlands and the highlands. It grows in tropical Africa. It grows in the Sahel. It grows in open scrub. It can grow on a range of soils. It is often on embankments and termite mounds. In East Africa it grows up to 2,000 m above sea level. It is drought resistant. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland. Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens. Melbourne Botanical gardens. It suits hardiness zones 7-9.

More

Found in dry savannahs in areas dominated by thorny vegetation in both temperate and tropical climates. It is also found in open scrubland, woodland, forest margins and riverine vegetation.

Light	-
Soil humidity
Soil texture	-
Soil acidity
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

The fruit are eaten fresh or dried. Often they are eaten in porridge. They can be used for drinks. The fruit are also ground and used in coffee. The roasted seeds are crushed and used as a coffee substitute. The fruit have been fermented for beer.

Uses	animal food bee plant charcoal coffee substitute dye environmental use fodder food fuel gene source invertebrate food material medicinal poison seasoning social use vertebrate poison wood
Edible	fruits leaves seeds
Therapeutic use	Lumbago (unspecified), Tumor (unspecified)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Plants can be grown by seeds or cuttings. It is best to remove the seeds from the stone by cracking with a hammer. Seeds germinate in 2-3 weeks when outside the stone or 2 months when inside the stone.

Mode	seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	soaking
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	12 - 30
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-