Mansanitas
Ziziphus mauritiana · Indian jujube
- Names in the book
- Manzanitas, Sp.-Fil.; Jujube Fruit, Eng.
- Used for
- Cough and asthma
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellowfruitorange, brown
- Native range
- South Asia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common in all parts of the islands.
- Family
- Rhamnaceae, filed in the book under Rhamnaceæ
- Printed as
- Zizyphus Jujuba, Lam. (Rhamnus Jujuba, L. & Blanco; Z. Mauritania, Wall.)
- Sources
- Page 81 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Ziziphus mauritiana, also known as Indian jujube, Indian plum, Chinese apple, ber (Hindi: बेर) and dunks, is a tropical, spiny, evergreen shrub or small tree in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused with the closely related Chinese jujube (Z. jujuba): Z. mauritiana is common in tropical and subtropical climates, while Z. jujuba prefers temperate climates. The plant grows vigorously up to 12 metres (39 ft) high, with a trunk 30 centimetres (12 in) or more in diameter. It has a spreading crown with stipular spines and drooping branches.
Excerpt from “Ziziphus mauritiana” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 32 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 5 provinces: Cebu (5), Catanduanes (2), Batangas (1), Metropolitan Manila (1), Rizal (1).
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The small fruit known commonly as manzanitas has an agreeable taste, although ordinarily offered for sale before they are quite ripe. They are among the most popular dainties at the fairs and festivals in the provinces of Manila and are the only part of the plant used in medicine. They possess emollient qualities and are official in the codex. They enter in the composition of the so-called pectoral remedies (composed of equal parts of figs, dates, Corinthian raisins and manzanitas).
Botanical description
A shrub, with hooked thorns, leaves alternate, petiolate, coriaceous, entire, 3-nerved, 2 thorny stipules, one of them crooked. Flowers small, greenish, axillary. Calyx, 5 oval divisions. Corolla, 5 petals. Stamens 5, free. Ovary bilocular, situated on the disc. Styles 2–3, divergent; small papillary stigmas. Drupe pulpy, globose, resembling a crab-apple in size and taste, enclosing a hard, 2-celled seed.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Ziziphus mauritiana Lam attenuates inflammation via downregulating NFκB pathway in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages & OVA-induced airway inflammation in mice models
- Standardization, in-silico and in-vivo safety assessment of methanol extract of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam leaves
- Ziziphus mauritiana-derived nitrogen-doped biogenic carbon dots: Eco-friendly catalysts for dye degradation and antibacterial applications