Taxonomic history
1753: Linnaeus described this species as Rhamnus jujuba in Species Plantarum, 1st ed., p. 194 of Ray Society 1957 facsimile.
Today: The current name for this species is Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.
original Latin diagnosis
Rhamnus aculeis solitariis recurvis, pedunculis aggregatis, floribus semidigynis, foliis retusis subtus tomentosis.
English translation
Rhamnus with prickles solitary [and] recurved; with peduncles clustered; with flowers [semidigynis]; [and] with leaf blades retuse [and] below tomentose.
| Rhamnus | Rhamnus |
| with prickles | aculeis - ablative plural of second declension masculine noun aculeus, -i |
| solitary | solitariis - ablative plural masculine of group A adjective solitarius, -a, -um; modifies aculeis |
| [and] | [added for smoother reading] |
| recurved; | recurvis - ablative plural of group A adjective recurvus, -a, -um; modifies aculeis |
| with peduncles | pedunculis - ablative plural of second declension masculine noun pedunculus, -i |
| clustered; | aggregatis - perfect passive participle, ablative plural masculine of first conjugation verb aggrego, -are, -avi, -atum; modifies pedunculis |
| with flowers | floribus - ablative plural of third declension masculine noun flos, floris |
| [?]; | semidigynis - ablative plural masculine of group A adjective semidigynus, -a, -um; modifies floribus |
| [and] | [added for smoother reading] |
| with leaf blades | foliis - ablative plural of second declension neuter noun folium, folii |
| retuse | retusis - perfect passive participle, ablative plural neuter of third conjugation verb retundo, retundere, ret(t)udi, retusum; modifies foliis |
| [and] | [added for smoother reading] |
| below | adverb |
| tomentose. | tomentosis - ablative plural neuter of group A adjective tomentosus, -a. -um; modifies foliis |