[3] Ziziphus mauritiana is a spiny, evergreen shrub or small tree up to 15 m high, with trunk 40 cm or more in diameter; spreading crown; stipular spines and many drooping branches.

[4] It is now widely naturalised throughout the Old World tropics from Southern Africa through the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent and China, Indomalaya, and into Australasia and the Pacific Islands.

Lamarck described Ziziphus mauritiana in 1789 during a period when European exploration was expanding rapidly across the globe, and many plants and animals were being documented by botanists.

The name “mauritiana” likely references the island of Mauritius, a prominent stopover for explorers and botanists in the Indian Ocean.

Ziziphus mauritiana is a medium-sized tree that grows vigorously and has a rapidly developing taproot, a necessary adaptation to drought conditions.

Z. mauritiana may be erect or wide-spreading, with gracefully drooping thorny branches, zigzag branchlets, thornless or set with short, sharp straight or hooked spines.

[9] The leaves are of different size with ovate or elliptic shape with rounded apex, with 3 depressed longitudinal veins at the base.

The form may be oval, obovate, round or oblong; the skin smooth or rough, glossy, thin but tough.

The fully mature fruit is entirely red, soft, juicy with wrinkled skin and has a pleasant aroma.

There is a single, hard, oval or oblate, rough central stone which contains 2 elliptic, brown seeds, 1/4 in (6mm) long.

[citation needed] Ziziphus mauritiana is a hardy tree that copes with extreme temperatures and thrives under rather dry conditions with an annual rainfall of 6 to 88.5 in (15–225 cm).

In Fiji, sometimes naturalised Ber trees grow along roadsides and in agricultural land, usually near sea level but occasionally up to an elevation of about 600 m. It also grows well on laterite, medium black soils with good drainage, or sandy, gravelly, alluvial soil of dry river-beds where it is vigorously spontaneous.

However, deep sandy loam to loamy soils with neutral or slightly alkaline pH are considered optimum for growth.

[11] The flowers are pollinated by ants and other insects, and in the wild state the trees do not set fruits by self-pollination.

Among the important cultivars, eleven are described in the encyclopaedic Wealth of India: 'Banarasi (or Banarsi) Pewandi', 'Dandan', 'Kaithli' ('Patham'), 'Muria Mahrara', 'Narikelee', 'Nazuk', 'Sanauri 1', 'Sanauri 5', 'Thornless' and 'Umran' ('Umri').

Ber seedlings do not tolerate transplanting, therefore the best alternatives are to sow the seeds directly in the field or to use polythene tubes placed in the nursery bed.

In Australia, plants growing under natural conditions are capable of producing seeds once they reach a height of about 1m.

Slightly underripe fruits are candied by a process of pricking, immersing in a salt solution.

Fruits are also eaten in other forms, such as dried, candied, pickled, as juice, or as ber butter.

Ber timber is hard, strong, fine-grained, fine-textured, tough, durable, and reddish in colour.

It has been used to line wells, to make legs for bedsteads, boat ribs, agricultural implements, tool handles, and other lathe-turned items.

The branches are used as framework in house construction and the wood makes good charcoal with a heat content of almost 4,900 kcal per kg.

The fruits are applied on cuts and ulcers; are employed in pulmonary ailments and fevers; and, mixed with salt and chili peppers, are given in indigestion and biliousness.

The seeds are sedative and are taken, sometimes with buttermilk, to halt nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pains in pregnancy.

The leaves are applied as poultices and are helpful in liver troubles, asthma and fever and, together with catechu, are administered when an astringent is needed, as on wounds.

The larvae pupate in the soil and it has been found that treatment of the ground beneath the tree helps reduce the problem.

Mites form scale-like galls on twigs, retarding growth and reducing the fruit crop.

In 1973, a witches'-broom disease caused by a mycoplasma-like organism was found in jujube plants near Poona University.

Leaf rust, caused by Phakopsora zizyphivulgaris, ranges from mild to severe on all commercial cultivars in the Punjab.

Fruit rots are caused by Fusarium spp., Nigrospora oryzae, Epicoccum nigrum, and Glomerella cingulata.