Common Name: BUCKTHORN FAMILY Habit: [Perennial herb] shrub, tree, generally erect, often thorny. Leaf: simple, generally alternate, often clustered on short-shoots; stipules generally present, occasionally modified into spines; generally petioled; blade pinnate-veined or 1--5-ribbed from base. Inflorescence: cyme, panicle, umbel, or flowers 1 or clustered in axils or on short-shoots. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium subtending, surrounding, or partly fused to ovary; sepals 4--5; petals 0, 4--5, generally clawed; stamens 0, 4--5, alternate sepals, attached to hypanthium top, each generally fitting into a petal concavity; disk (0 or) between stamens, ovary, thin to fleshy, entire or lobed, free from ovary, adherent or fused to hypanthium; ovary superior or +- inferior, chambers [1]2--4, 1--2-ovuled, style 1, stigma entire or 2--3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, drupe. Genera In Family: 50--52 genera, 950 species: especially tropics, subtropics some cultivated (Ceanothus; Frangula; Rhamnus; Ziziphus). eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr., except as noted Scientific Editor: Steve Boyd, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Habit: Tree, shrub [vine]. Stem: branches alternate, flexible or stiff, +- 2--3-ranked; twigs +- pendent, zigzag. Leaf: clustered on short-shoots or not, deciduous or not, petioled; stipules +- spine-like or not, unequal; blade elliptic to obovate, +- entire to serrate, 1--5-ribbed from base. Inflorescence: cyme or small panicle. Flower: hypanthium surrounding base of ovary; sepals 5; petals 5, < to > sepals; stamens 5; disk thick, +- obscuring ovary in early flower; ovary widely attached at base, chambers 2, each 1-ovuled, stigma 2-lobed. Fruit: drupe, stone 1. Etymology: (Latin: from Arabic "zizouf," common jujube, Ziziphus zizyphus) eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr. Reference: Islam & Simmons 2006 Syst Bot 31:826--842 Unabridged Reference: Johnston 1963 Amer J Bot 50:1020--1027
Ziziphus obtusifolia (Hook. ex Torr. & A. Gray) A. Gray var. canescens (A. Gray) M.C. Johnst.
NATIVE Habit: Shrub, < 3 m. Stem: bark gray, smooth; twigs 1--8 cm, stiff, spreading, thorn-tipped, densely short-white-hairy. Leaf: deciduous; stipules brown; blade 2--20 mm, ovate or oblong, firm, dull gray, margin entire or teeth 2--10, glandular. Inflorescence: 2--30-flowered. Flower: hypanthium 1.5--2 mm wide, olive-green, glabrous to tomentose; sepals +- yellow to +- orange or +- purple; petals white; pistil olive-green. Fruit: fleshy, 7--10 mm, not beaked, blue-black. Ecology: Uncommon. Desert scrub; Elevation: 45--1250 m. Bioregional Distribution: D; Distribution Outside California: Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Mexico. Flowering Time: Apr--Jun Note: 1 other variety, in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico. Unabridged Synonyms: Condalia lycioides var. canescens (A. Gray) Trel. Unabridged Note:Ziziphus obtusifolia var. obtusifolia in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico.= Jepson eFlora Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr. Reference: Islam & Simmons 2006 Syst Bot 31:826--842 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Ziziphus Next taxon: Ziziphus parryi var. parryi
Botanical illustration including Ziziphus obtusifolia var. canescens
Citation for this treatment: John O. Sawyer, Jr. 2012, Ziziphus obtusifolia var. canescens, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=67917, accessed on March 29, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on March 29, 2024.
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