Articles
Jujube as a nutritious edible landscape plant
Article number
1467_10
Pages
77 – 84
Language
English
Abstract
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) also called Chinese date, had been cultivated in China for at least 4,000 years.
Jujube is in the Rhamnaceae family and was domesticated from its wild relative sour jujube (Z. spinosa). Jujube cultivars were first imported into the United States by Frank N. Meyer between 1908 to 1918. Now, there are 100 or more cultivars with varied shapes and sizes in the U.S., which include Frank Meyer’s importation, selections from Chico Plant Introduction Station in California, selections across the states, recent importations and undocumented importations.
After 15 years research plus ten-year long-term cultivar trials in New Mexico, jujube has been proven to be a reliable alternative fruit crop in New Mexico and the southwest.
Jujube fruits are nutritious, rich in vitamin C, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, polysaccharide, phenols, triterpenoids and so on.
With its sweet and nutritious fruits, jujube is not only a commercial fruit crop, but also an excellent landscape fruit tree for edible landscapes.
Jujube has small shiny leaves with few pest and disease problems in the U.S., suitable as a landscape plant.
Its nutritious fruits are good for human consumption or for wildlife in winter.
The ornamental jujube cultivars like ‘So’ and ‘Dragon’ are perfect as edible landscape plants. ‘So’ has a compact and spreading canopy with sweet/tart fruits, good for fresh eating and drying, mature early in season.
Its branches are contoured. ‘Dragon’ has a dwarf and gnarled canopy with small pear-shaped fruit.
Even different in tree size and fruit shape, both ‘So’ and ‘Dragon’ are excellent edible four-season landscape plants.
Cultivar ‘Mushroom’ probably has the most decorative fruits and large trees.
Its fruit shape is like a button mushroom, or two pieces of grinding stones stacked together. ‘Teapot’ also had irregular fruit shapes and large trees.
Its fruit matures late in season.
Not only ornamental cultivars, but common jujube cultivars are also good edible landscape plants with medium-sized canopy, nutritious fruits, and limited diseases and pests.
Jujube is in the Rhamnaceae family and was domesticated from its wild relative sour jujube (Z. spinosa). Jujube cultivars were first imported into the United States by Frank N. Meyer between 1908 to 1918. Now, there are 100 or more cultivars with varied shapes and sizes in the U.S., which include Frank Meyer’s importation, selections from Chico Plant Introduction Station in California, selections across the states, recent importations and undocumented importations.
After 15 years research plus ten-year long-term cultivar trials in New Mexico, jujube has been proven to be a reliable alternative fruit crop in New Mexico and the southwest.
Jujube fruits are nutritious, rich in vitamin C, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, polysaccharide, phenols, triterpenoids and so on.
With its sweet and nutritious fruits, jujube is not only a commercial fruit crop, but also an excellent landscape fruit tree for edible landscapes.
Jujube has small shiny leaves with few pest and disease problems in the U.S., suitable as a landscape plant.
Its nutritious fruits are good for human consumption or for wildlife in winter.
The ornamental jujube cultivars like ‘So’ and ‘Dragon’ are perfect as edible landscape plants. ‘So’ has a compact and spreading canopy with sweet/tart fruits, good for fresh eating and drying, mature early in season.
Its branches are contoured. ‘Dragon’ has a dwarf and gnarled canopy with small pear-shaped fruit.
Even different in tree size and fruit shape, both ‘So’ and ‘Dragon’ are excellent edible four-season landscape plants.
Cultivar ‘Mushroom’ probably has the most decorative fruits and large trees.
Its fruit shape is like a button mushroom, or two pieces of grinding stones stacked together. ‘Teapot’ also had irregular fruit shapes and large trees.
Its fruit matures late in season.
Not only ornamental cultivars, but common jujube cultivars are also good edible landscape plants with medium-sized canopy, nutritious fruits, and limited diseases and pests.
Authors
Shengrui Yao, Mengmeng Gu
Keywords
Ziziphus jujuba, fruit nutrition, fruit shapes and sizes, tree shapes, pests and diseases
Online Articles (30)