Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. var. deserticola A. Chev.

Ziziphus mauritiana, Chinese date, cottony jujube, Indian plum, jujube, Indian cherry, and Chinese apple, is a tree or shrub native to India but naturalized and invasive in Fiji, Australia, China, Iran, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Florida (PIER, 2015).  Ziziphus mauritiana grows in tropical climates and in woodland, agricultural and disturbed areas (PIER, 2015).

Ziziphus mauritiana can grow to 1-2 m high as a shrub and 4-10 m as a tree (Grice, 2007). The dark green leaves are 2.5-6 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, although during the very hot temperature the trees will not produce leaves (Grice, 2007). Flowers could either be white or light green. The trees also produces fruit which are orange or red and can reach 6 cm in length and are drupes containing two seeds each (Grice, 2007).  Seed production occurs once the trees reach a height of 1 to 2 meters (Grice, 2002). The seeds have the ability to germinate for about 2.5 years (Grice, 2002). Birds and cattle contribute to seed dispersal (PIER, 2015).

Ziziphus mauritiana has been used to treat indigiestion, fevers, rheumatism, gingivitis, and open sores from various parts of the plant such as the bark, leaves, fruits, and seeds (Grice, 2007). Sarker and his colleagues studied the effects Ziziphus mautriana on pain relief (Sarker, Rahman, Kabir, Islam, Azad, Rahman, Rahmatuallah, 2014: 96).  Leaves were dried and then ground into a fine powder (Sarker, Rahman, Kabir, Islam, Azad, Rahman, Rahmatuallah, 2014: 97). Swiss albino mice were administrated 200 to 400 mg per body weight of generic aspirin and another 4 groups were administrated with 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg of Ziziphus mauritiana extract (Sarker, Rahman, Kabir, Islam, Azad, Rahman, Rahmatuallah, 2014: 97).  The mice administrated with 200 and 400 mg/kg of Ziziphus mauritiana showed a remarkable reduction in abdominal constrictions with low amounts of the extracts as compared to the mice administrated with higher doses of aspirin (Sarker, Rahman, Kabir, Islam, Azad, Rahman, Rahmatuallah, 2014: 98). Ziziphus mauritiana demonstrated effectiveness and capacity to reduce pain.