Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.
Eng.: Jujube. Spa.: Jinjolero. Fre.: Jujubier. Ara.: Téhéhent, sedra, djerjer, azar, ennbeg, nbeg, saedra, sîdër, sidraya, sidrayé (Hassanía), ngédébisi (Choua). Tamahaq: Tabakat, âbâkât, ajzên; the fruit: izagaran.
Shrub or tree, hermaphrodite, spiny, rarely unarmed, 3-8(16) m height. Bark greyish, young stems cottony. Branches in zigzag, densely pubescent. Leaves with elliptic-ovate to almost orbicular leaf-blade 3-8 × 1.5-5 cm, rounded base, densely tomentose on the underside. Inflorescence in cymes 1-2 × 1-2 cm, with few to many flowers, tomentose peduncles, with pedicels 1-4 mm long that elongate when fruiting; sepals dorsally tomentulose; petals 1-1.5 mm long. Fruit drupaceous, 1-2 cm, globose to ellipsoid, fleshy.
Flowering:
May to July.
Fruiting:
August to October.
Habitat:
Desert savannahs and depressions. In the lower areas of mountain ranges.
Distribution:
Probably native to the Middle East or the Indian subcontinent, a tropical species reaching towards the N to the sublittoral western Sahara and to the great mountain ranges of central Sahara. Cultivated anywhere across North Africa.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Mali it is included in its List of species that need authorization for commercial use (Decree 07-155/P-RM of 2007).