Ziziphus nummularia
(Burm.f.) Wight & Arn., Prodr. 162. 1834;
M. Lawson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 633. 1875. Rhamnus nummularia Burm.f.,
Fl. Ind. 61. 1768. Ziziphus rotundifolia Lam., Encycl. 3: 319. 1789; Cooke,
Fl. Pres. Bombay 1: 241. 1902.
Bhoj. : Jhari, Jharberi, Jand. Kanta ; Guj.: Chanyabor ; Hindi: Ber, Berra ;
Punj.: Bal, Mella, Kokenber ; Raj. : Bhor, Jhar-bhor .
Straggling shrubs, 2-3.5 (-5) m tall, with widely divaricating flexuous branches; young branches tomentose, profusely armed; spines paired, one straight, slender and very sharp, nearly as long as the petiole, other much shorter, hooked, bent downwards. Leaves ovate, elliptic or orbicular, 1-2.5 x 0.5-1.8 cm, acute or obtuse at apex, oblique or rounded at base, glabrous or tomentose above, tomentose to white woolly tomentose beneath, serrate, each tooth marked by a deciduous, callous point, basally 3-nerved with few prominent lateral nerves; petioles 5-10 mm long, tomentose. Inflorescence short, axillary, compact 10- 20-flowered cymes, sessile or very shortly pedunculate. Flowers 4-5 mm across; pedicels 2-5 mm long, tomentose. Calyx lobes deltoid, 1.7-2.2 mm long, acute, keeled nearly to the base, campanulate, thickened at the apex, glabrous within, pubescent without. Petals 1-1.5 mm long, obovate-spathulate, margin convolute, rounded or truncate at the apex. Stamens 0.8-1.2 mm long. Disc slightly 10- lobed. Ovary bicarpellary, bilocular; style 2-cleft, united to above the middle. Drupes 0.8 cm in diam., globose, woody, glabrous, black red and shining when ripe; kernel rugose, with a hard, bony shell. Seeds 2(-1) compressed, black.
Straggling shrubs, 2-3.5 (-5) m tall, with widely divaricating flexuous branches; young branches tomentose, profusely armed; spines paired, one straight, slender and very sharp, nearly as long as the petiole, other much shorter, hooked, bent downwards. Leaves ovate, elliptic or orbicular, 1-2.5 x 0.5-1.8 cm, acute or obtuse at apex, oblique or rounded at base, glabrous or tomentose above, tomentose to white woolly tomentose beneath, serrate, each tooth marked by a deciduous, callous point, basally 3-nerved with few prominent lateral nerves; petioles 5-10 mm long, tomentose. Inflorescence short, axillary, compact 10- 20-flowered cymes, sessile or very shortly pedunculate. Flowers 4-5 mm across; pedicels 2-5 mm long, tomentose. Calyx lobes deltoid, 1.7-2.2 mm long, acute, keeled nearly to the base, campanulate, thickened at the apex, glabrous within, pubescent without. Petals 1-1.5 mm long, obovate-spathulate, margin convolute, rounded or truncate at the apex. Stamens 0.8-1.2 mm long. Disc slightly 10- lobed. Ovary bicarpellary, bilocular; style 2-cleft, united to above the middle. Drupes 0.8 cm in diam., globose, woody, glabrous, black red and shining when ripe; kernel rugose, with a hard, bony shell. Seeds 2(-1) compressed, black.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Leaves tomentose on both surfaces | 11.2. nummularia |
| b. Leaves glabrous above and tomentose beneath | 11.1. glabrescens |
