![]() Jujube shoots are different from other fruit species. Leaves are 1 to 2 inches (2.5–5.5 cm) long and 0.75 to 1.5 inches (2–4 cm) wide. Leaves are shiny, ovate or oval in shapes, not branched, and grow on alternating sides of branches. Depending on the cultivar, tree growth habit varies from broad and spreading to very narrow and upright canopies. Branches are zigzagged, with paired spines in young trees. Jujube is a deciduous fruit/ornamental tree, 15 to 30 ft in height, with very hard, strong wood. ![]() Other scattered trees in Las Cruces, Los Lunas (Valencia County, elevation 4,856 ft), Albuquerque (Bernalillo County, elevation 5,312 ft), Tucumcari (Quay County, elevation 4,816 ft), and Española (Rio Arriba County, elevation 5,595 ft) are all growing and producing well. There are two jujube trees at the old LC Ranch headquarters at Gila, NM, which were planted around 1910, and they are still producing. A homeowner in Cliff, NM (Grant County, elevation 4,500 ft), has jujubes near his house, and they have been producing a prolific crop every year for the past 40 years. There are jujube trees in the South Valley area outside Albuquerque that were planted in 1928. ![]() There are 60-year-old sour jujube and regular jujube trees (cultivars unknown) on the NMSU Las Cruces campus (Doña Ana County, elevation 4,000 ft). In New Mexico, jujube trees can be found growing in diverse locales around the state. Locke from the Southern Great Plains Field Station at Woodward, OK, wrote, “This jujube is little known, but is highly dependable fruit of high food value.” Shortly after the importation, Meyer and other scientists realized the potential of jujubes in the U.S., especially in the Southwest where sunshine is plentiful, summers are hot, and the climate is semiarid. Scientists evaluated those jujube introductions until the 1960s, and a few selections were developed at Chico, CA. Later, they were distributed to other USDA stations in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Florida. Meyer introduced the first group of commercial cultivars to the Plant Introduction Field Station at Chico, CA, in 1908. Most of the early imports were from seedlings. Rixford brought jujubes from France and introduced them to California and nearby states. from Europe by Robert Chisholm and planted in Beaufort, NC, in 1837. Jujubes were first introduced to the U.S. The dried fruit of the date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera) looks similar to that of jujube, but botanically they are not related to each other. Although it varies with location, jujube usually starts to leaf out in March to April, blooms in May to July, and matures in August to October. mauritiana Lam), which is a tropical plant of the same genus, whereas the Chinese jujube is a cold-hardy deciduous plant. ![]() The jujube can be easily confused with the Indian jujube ( Z. Jujubes belong to the Rhamnaceae (buckthorn) family. There are still semi-cultivated sour jujubes like ‘Tiger Eye’ big round sour jujube and ‘Yanjishan’ big sour jujube, which are popular in Beijing and Shandong Provinces, China, respectively. In ancient times, people selected and cultivated sour jujubes with bigger fruit, and it gradually became the cultivated modern jujube species ( Z. Botanically, it is derived from its wild relative sour jujube or wild jujube ( Z. It originated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and has been cultivated in China for more than 4,000 years. Jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill), also called Chinese date, red date, or Tsao, is native to China. Guide H-330 Revised by Shengrui Yao College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State UniversityĪuthor: Professor/Extension Fruit Specialist, Sustainable Agriculture Science Center at Alcalde, New Mexico State University. ![]()
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