About 45 species of woody, deciduous and evergreen, shrubs and trees. Most have stipular thorns. Leaves alternate on short petioles. Flowers 5-membered, yellow. Fruit subglobose to oblong. Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical area.
Ziziphus (also Zizyphus): apparently from a Persian name for the lotus fruit of antiquity.
Pronunciation:
ZIZ-i-fus
Family:
Rhamnaceae