Jujube

Jujube (Zizyphus), a genus of spiny and deciduous shrubs and small trees of the natural order Rhamnaceæ. The species are pretty numerous. The Common Jujube (Z. vulgaris) of the south of Europe, Syria, &c. is a low tree, which produces a fruit resembling an olive in shape and size, red or sometimes yellow when ripe. The fruit is dried as a sweetmeat, and forms an article of commerce. Syrup of jujubes is used in coughs, fevers, &c.; but the jujube paste or plâte de jujube of the shops of Britain is made of gum-arabic and sugar, without any of the dried jelly of this fruit.—The jujube of India (Z. Jujuba) is a similar small tree, with round or oblong fruit, sometimes of the size of a hen's egg.—A Chinese species of jujube (Z. nitida) has a very pleasant yellow fruit about an inch long; and other species not much inferior are found in Africa, South America, and other warm countries.—The Lotus (Z. Lotus), a shrub 2 or 3 feet high, a native of Persia, the north of Africa, &c., produces in great abundance a fruit about as large as a sloe, and with a large stone, but having a sweet farinaceous pulp, which the natives of some parts of Africa make into cakes resembling gingerbread. A kind of wine is sometimes made from it. This is believed by many to be the Lotus of the ancient Lotophagi celebrated by Homer.—Z. Spina Christi, another native of the countries near the Mediterranean, is sometimes said to be the plant from the branches of which our Saviour's crown of thorns was made, and is therefore called Christ's Thorn and Jew's Thorn, names which, for the same reason, are also given to Palinurus aculeatus. The fruit is about the size of a sloe, oblong, and pleasantly acidulous.—Z. xylopyrus, a native of the coast of Coromandel, has greenish downy fruit about the size of a cherry, with an edible kernel tasting like a filbert. The tree, which grows about 20 feet high, yields a hard, durable, yet light timber, which when mature assumes a fine orange colour.