Botanical Survey of India | Flora of India

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Ziziphus andamanica Bhandari & Bhansali in M.P. Nayar et al ., Fasc. Fl. India 20: 89. 1990. Z. glabra King in J. As. Soc. Bengal 65: 376. 1897 ( non Roxb., 1824).


Scandent shrubs; young branches puberulous, spine solitary, recurved, 2-3 mm long. Leaves ovate-oblong, rarely ovate-lanceolate, 5.5-9.3 x 3.2-4.3 cm, base slightly narrowed, serrulate or subentire, glabrous, shining, except the pubescent midvein, oblique, 3-nerved; transverse nerves parallel, two outer primary nerves with camptodromous secondary nerves diverging at 30°-40° angle; petioles 6-8 mm long, pubescent. Inflorescence 20-25-flowered, pubescent cymes. Flowers 5 mm across; peduncles longer than the petiole; pedicels 2 mm long, accrescent. Calyx lobes ovate, 2 mm long, acute, keeled inside, thickened at apex, pubescent without. Petals 1.5 mm long. Stamens equal to petals; filaments linear. Disc glabrous, hairy at centre with 10 obscure teeth at the edge. Ovary bicarpellary, 2-loculed. Drupes 1.5 x 1.3 cm, glabrescent, yellow, 1-celled. Seeds 1, 8 mm in diam., compressed, brown.

Fl. & Fr. : Oct. - April.

Distrib. India: Damp places on the margins of canals. Assam and Andaman Islands.

Notes. King (1897) while describing Z. glabra stated this species resembles Z. glabra Roxb., but the outer nerves of the leaves are broadly branched outwards and the fruit is minutely tomentose. The specimens of this are scanty. When more material of this and Z. glabra Roxb. are obtained, it may be found impossible to keep this up as more than a variety of the older specimen. King's Z. glabra as drawn on plate 8 (l.c.) is certainly very different from Wallichian specimen no. 4242, the Holotype, examined at K. King's name, being occupied by Roxburgh's plant, is a latter homonym and, therefore, a new name Z. andamanica was proposed.





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