Ziziphus spina-christi

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rhamnaceae
Genus: Ziziphus
Species: Ziziphus spina-christi


Kingdom: Plants, Plantae
Phylum: Flowering plants, Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliids, Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rhamnaceae
Genus: Ziziphus
Species: Christ's Thorn Jujube, spina-christi (L.) Willd.
                 Ziziphus spina-christi aucheri
                 var. aucheri (Boiss.) Qaiser & Nazim.


Division: Angiospermae
Class: Dicotyledoneae
Subclass: Archichlamydeae
Order: Rhamnales
Family: Rhamnaceae
Source: STUDENTS’ FLORA OF EGYPT second edition, by VIVI TÄCKHOLM, D. Sc. (Stockholm) Professor of Systematic Botany, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. Published by Cairo University. Printed by COOPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY Beirut, 1974.


Botanical (Binomial) name: Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf.
Synonyms: Rhamnus spina-christi L.

Latin (Botanical - Species) name: Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Willd.


Family: Rhamnaceae


Common name:
Arabic: Sidr, Nabq, Nabaq, Gabaat, Siddir, Nubak, Nabdag, Nabbak, Nabak
English: Jujube Christ, Christ thorn
French: epine du Christ


Plant description:

RHAMNACEAE A. Juss. Woody plants with simple, stipulate frequently 3-5-nerved leaves and small greenish or yellowish flowers, often in axillary cymes; intra-staminal disc well developed; fruit a drupe or capsule.. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved beneath. ZIZIPHUS Mill. Trees or shrubs with ovate, beneath 3-nerved leaves. Flowers bisexual, 5-fid. Fruit a yellow to brown-red drupe. Tree, leaves over 2.5 cm. long. ZIZIPHUS SPINA-CHRISTI (L.) Willd.: Branches white, glabrous. Leaves glabrous or slightly pubescent beneath. Stipules transformed into spines in wild forms (v. divaricatus Forssk.) unarmed in cultivated forms (v. rectus Forssk.). (Frut.). Also the latter variety frequently naturalized. Fruit edible, of cherry-size.

Source: STUDENTS’ FLORA OF EGYPT second edition, by VIVI TÄCKHOLM, D. Sc. (Stockholm) Professor of Systematic Botany, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. Published by Cairo University. Printed by COOPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY Beirut, 1974.


Propagation: Fruits (seeds), Trees or shrubs in Upper Egypt.


Origin: Egypt

Zilla spinosa

Kingdom:     Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae


Division: Angiospermae
Class: Dicotyledoneae
Subclass: Archichlamydeae
Order: Papaverales
Family: Cruciferae

Latin (Botanical) name: Zilla spinosa (Turra) Prantl.


Family: Cruciferae, Brassicaceae


Common name: Zilla, Silla, Sillet, Besilla, Basilla, Shagaret el-hommoos, Ommo, Hommoos.


Origin: Egypt


Plant description:

CRUCIFERAE A. Juss. Pod short and broad, oblong-rounded. Pod not or inconspicuously compressed. (For shortly cylindrical pods with seeds in 2 parallel rows, see under Pod long and narrow, genera 4, 9, 10.). Pod globose, ovoid or pear-shaped. Pod beaked. Spiny desert shrub with pink flowers ZILLA Forssk. Spiny desert shrubs with pink or purple flowers. Pod indehiscent, globose or square, with a long subulate spinescent beak.

Pod not cube-shaped under the spiny style with a deep groove surrounded by a corky margin on each of the 4 lateral faces.

ZILLA SPINOSA (Turra) Prantl (= ZILLA MYAGROIDES Forssk.) : Blue-green, dichotomously branched plant with stiff spinescent branches and soon deciduous fleshy leaves. Plant typically 50-60 cm. high with 8-10 mm. broad pods. (Frut.). In rocky and sandy places. – In Upper Egypt an annual form of this species is sometimes met with.

v. microcarpa Dur. & Sch. : 10-20 cm. high, pod smaller.

Source: STUDENTS’ FLORA OF EGYPT second edition, by VIVI TÄCKHOLM, D. Sc. (Stockholm) Professor of Systematic Botany, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. Published by Cairo University. Printed by COOPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY Beirut, 1974.


Propagation: Fruits (seeds), shrub in Upper Egypt.