ABSTRACT
This herb is the dried, ripe fruit of Ziziphus jujuba Mill var spinosa (Burge.) Hu ex H. F. Chou of the family Rhamnaceae. The plant grows mostly in the mountains in the Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces of China. The fruit is collected in the autumn and the seed is dried in the sun after removing the pulp and stonelike shell. The herb is used unprocessed or stir baked and crushed (Jiang Su New Medical College, 1977). Zizyphus, also known as wild jujube seed, is traditionally used as a tranquilizer, anodyne, tonic, and sedative to treat rheumatic difficulties, sleeplessness (whether from weakness or from pain), and spontaneous night sweating (Smith and Stuart, 1973).
