Ziziphus xylopyra
(Retz.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 1: 1104. 1797; M. Lawson
in Fl. Brit. India 1: 634. 1875. ('Xylopyrus'). Rhamnus xylopyrus Retz., Obs.
Bot. 2: 11. 1781.
Hindi: Bhander, Gunt, Beri, Kath Ber, Chittonia, Chont, Gotaha, Got.
Kakor, Maber; Mal.: Kotta; Or.: Goto; Sant.: Ghoti, Karkat; Tam.: Kotteri;
Tel.: Got.
Large, straggling shrubs or small trees, 7.5 - 12 m tall, often gregarious; young shoots rusty tomentose; spines in pairs on younger branches, one straight, the other curved; internodes 1.5 - 3.5 cm long; nodes swollen at the leaf scars. Leaves broadly elliptic or orbicular, rarely ovate, 2.5 - 7.5 x 1.5 - 6.5 cm, obliquely subcordate, obtuse with mucro at apex, yellowish antrorse hairy beneath, serrate, each serration marked by a deciduous glandular mucro, basally 3 - 4 nerved; primary lateral nerves prominent, campylodromous; secondary nerves camptodromous, diverging at angle of 40°- 60°; tertiaries transversely reticulate; petioles 2 - 7 mm long, fulvous tomentose. Inflorescence dense, axillary, dichotomous cymes; peduncles 2.5 - 4 mm long. Flowers 4 - 6 mm across, yellowish green, buds ovoid, densely pubescent; pedicels 3 - 4 mm long, tomentose. Calyx lobes 2 - 2.5 mm long, keeled up to the middle, thickend at apex, glabrous within, pubescent without. Petals 1.5 - 2 mm long. Stamens equal to petals. Disc 10- lobed, pitted or grooved, rarely 5-lobed, glabrous. Ovary tricarpellary, 3-celled, rarely 2 or 4-celled, globose, nearly hidden by the disc; style cleft up to half to two-third of the length. Drupes globose, 1.8-2.5 cm in diam., woody, slightly rugose; stone thin and hard. Seeds 3, 1 - 2 x 1 - 1.5 mm, compressed, black.
Fl. & Fr. : April - Jan.
Distrib. India: In dry deciduous forests, but sometimes also found in Sal forests. Throughout, except E. India.
Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Notes. Chromosome number: n=12. (Mehra & Sareen in Taxon 18: 433- 442. 1969).
Notes. The plants yield yellowish brown hard and durable wood. It is also commonly used as fuel. The fruits and the bark are used for tanning and the leaves as fodder. The kernal of the fruit is eaten but not the pulp.
Large, straggling shrubs or small trees, 7.5 - 12 m tall, often gregarious; young shoots rusty tomentose; spines in pairs on younger branches, one straight, the other curved; internodes 1.5 - 3.5 cm long; nodes swollen at the leaf scars. Leaves broadly elliptic or orbicular, rarely ovate, 2.5 - 7.5 x 1.5 - 6.5 cm, obliquely subcordate, obtuse with mucro at apex, yellowish antrorse hairy beneath, serrate, each serration marked by a deciduous glandular mucro, basally 3 - 4 nerved; primary lateral nerves prominent, campylodromous; secondary nerves camptodromous, diverging at angle of 40°- 60°; tertiaries transversely reticulate; petioles 2 - 7 mm long, fulvous tomentose. Inflorescence dense, axillary, dichotomous cymes; peduncles 2.5 - 4 mm long. Flowers 4 - 6 mm across, yellowish green, buds ovoid, densely pubescent; pedicels 3 - 4 mm long, tomentose. Calyx lobes 2 - 2.5 mm long, keeled up to the middle, thickend at apex, glabrous within, pubescent without. Petals 1.5 - 2 mm long. Stamens equal to petals. Disc 10- lobed, pitted or grooved, rarely 5-lobed, glabrous. Ovary tricarpellary, 3-celled, rarely 2 or 4-celled, globose, nearly hidden by the disc; style cleft up to half to two-third of the length. Drupes globose, 1.8-2.5 cm in diam., woody, slightly rugose; stone thin and hard. Seeds 3, 1 - 2 x 1 - 1.5 mm, compressed, black.
Fl. & Fr. : April - Jan.
Distrib. India: In dry deciduous forests, but sometimes also found in Sal forests. Throughout, except E. India.
Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Notes. Chromosome number: n=12. (Mehra & Sareen in Taxon 18: 433- 442. 1969).
Notes. The plants yield yellowish brown hard and durable wood. It is also commonly used as fuel. The fruits and the bark are used for tanning and the leaves as fodder. The kernal of the fruit is eaten but not the pulp.
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