Ziziphus oenopolia



Ziziphus oenopolia, commonly known as the jackal jujube, small-fruited jujube or wild jujube, is a flowering plant with a broad distribution through tropical and subtropical Asia and Australasia. In India, it is mostly found in the deciduous forests of the southern part of the country.

Description
It is a spreading, sometimes climbing, thorny shrub growing to 1.5 m in height. The leaves are simple, alternate, ovate-lanceolate, acute and oblique. The flowers are green, in subsessile axillary cymes. The fruit is a globose drupe, black and shiny when ripe, containing a single seed. The leaf length is 4-6.5 cm, width is 2–3 cm.

Distribution and habitat
It ranges from the Indian subcontinent through southern China and Southeast Asia to northern Australia. It grows along roadside forests and thickets. Its flowering and fruiting season is June to February.

Uses
The berries are edible and the bark is used for tanning.

Medicinal
The plant produces active phytochemicals, such as phenolics, alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins, and carbohydrates. The plant produces cyclopeptide alkaloids known as ziziphines. The stem, bark, leaves, fruit, and roots are used in Ayurveda for the treatment of various conditions, such as ulcers, stomach aches, obesity, and asthma. The stem bark has antioxidant properties. Bark and roots are used for anti-diabetic treatments. The Konkani people of Maharashtra use the chewed leaves as a dressing for wounds. In Burma the stem bark is used as a mouthwash for sore throats, for dysentery, and for inflammation of the uterus. Research in Thailand has found that extracts of ziziphine from Ziziphus oenopolia show antiplasmodial in vitro activity against the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Alternative names and Etymology
Linnaeus spelled the specific epithet as "oenoplia," "oenopolia," and "oenopia". When Miller transferred the genus from "Rhamnus" to "Ziziphus," he used "oenoplia."