Jujube (UK ; US or ; scientific name Ziziphus jujuba), jujuba, Chinese jujube, red date or Chinese date is a species in the genus Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused with the closely related Indian jujube, Z. mauritiana. The jujube tolerates a diverse range of climates, from temperate to tropical. Its origin is thought to be in eastern Asia, but it has been widely dispersed through cultivation, and is today cultivated in gardens as a shrub as well as in agriculture as a food crop. Its fruit is eaten freshly harvested as well as dried and candied.
Names The name jujuba is directly Latin while jujube through a Romance language (likely French jujube), both derive from Classical zizyphum (used for the fruit) and zizyphus (the tree) from Ancient Greek ζίζυφον zízyphon. The name jujube is not connected to botanically unrelated jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) hispanicized from native Oʼodham hohohwi. Jujube fruits are also known as "red dates" or "Chinese dates" by resemblance to date fruits of the Phoenix dactylifera palm.
Description It is a small deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 5–10 metres (16–33 feet), usually with thorny branches. The leaves are shiny-green, ovate-acute, 2–7 centimetres (3⁄4–2+3⁄4 inches) long and 1–3 cm (3⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) wide, with three conspicuous veins at the base, and a finely toothed margin. Leaves of trees grown in the climate region in Turkey measure average between 3.8–4.28 cm in length and 1.79–1.98 cm in width. The flowers are small, 5 millimetres (1⁄4 in) wide, with five inconspicuous yellowish-green petals.
The fruit is an edible oval drupe 1.5–3 cm (5⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) deep; when immature it is smooth-green, with the consistency and taste of an apple with lower acidity, maturing brown to purplish-black, and eventually wrinkled, looking like a small date. There is a single hard kernel, similar to an olive stone, containing two seeds. Modern cultivated jujubes have kernels up to 3.8 times larger than those of wild jujubes.
Chemistry The leaves contain saponin and ziziphin, which suppresses the ability to perceive sweet taste. Flavinoids found in the fruits include Kaempferol 3-O-rutinoside, Quercetine 3-O-robinobioside, Quercetine 3-O-rutinoside. Terpenoids such as colubrinic acid, zizyberenalic acid, and alphitolic acid were found in the fruits.
Taxonomy The binomial name has a complex history, due to a combination of botanical naming regulations, and variations in spelling. It was first named in the binomial system by Carl Linnaeus as Rhamnus zizyphus, in Species Plantarum (1753). Philip Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, considered that the jujube and its relatives were sufficiently distinct from Rhamnus to be placed in a separate genus (as it had already been by the pre-Linnaean author Tournefort in 1700), and in the 1768 edition he gave it the name Ziziphus jujuba (using Tournefort's spelling for the genus name). For the species name, he used a different name, as tautonyms (repetition of exactly the same name in the genus and species) are not permitted in botanical naming. However, because of Miller's slightly different spelling, the combination of the earlier species name (from Linnaeus) with the new genus, Ziziphus zizyphus, is not a tautonym, and was therefore permitted as a botanical name. This combination was made by Hermann Karsten in 1882. In 2006, a proposal was made to suppress the name Ziziphus zizyphus in favour of Ziziphus jujuba, and this proposal was accepted in 2011. Ziziphus jujuba is thus the correct scientific name for this species.
Distribution and habitat Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation. However, its origin is thought to be in eastern Asia, in southern and central China, India, Korea, and Japan, and possibly also southwestern Asia between Lebanon, and southeastern Europe, though more likely introduced there. The Chinese jujube enjoys a diverse range of climates from temperate to tropical (whereas the Indian jujube is restricted to warmer subtropical and tropical climates). The tree tolerates a wide range of temperatures and rainfall, though it requires hot summers and sufficient water for acceptable fruiting. Unlike most of the other species in the genus, it tolerates fairly cold winters, surviving temperatures down to about −15 °C (5 °F), and the tree is, for instance, commonly cultivated in Beijing. This wide tolerance enables the jujube to grow in mountain or desert habitats, provided there is access to underground water throughout the summer. The jujube or Z. jujuba grows in cool regions of Asia; five or more other species of Ziziphus on the other hand are widely distributed in milder climates to warmer deserts of Asia and Africa. This plant has been introduced in Madagascar and grows as an invasive species in the western part of the island, threatening mostly protected areas. It is cultivated in parts of southern California.
Ecology In Madagascar, it is widely eaten by free-ranging zebus, and its seeds grow easily in zebu faeces.
Cultivation Chinese jujubes have been grown in parts of Asia for thousands of years. Wild jujube kernels have been found in three sites on the Qi River basin of northern China dating to the Neolithic period. It may have originated in Syria, but was distributed across the Mediterranean region at least 3,000 years ago. Today, it is most widely grown in China. The tree is tolerant of droughts and flooding, and can be cultivated on a large scale. Jujubes are grown as a garden shrub throughout most of the southern half of North America, doing particularly well in parts of California. Cultivars include Li, Lang, Sherwood, Silverhill (also known as Tiger Tooth), So, Shui Men, and GA 866. Agricultural growers have started to plant Chinese jujubes in Australia since around 2000. A family farm in Renmark, South Australia has been growing the fruit since 2015. Seeka, the largest producer of kiwi fruit and nashi pears in Australia, produces abundant crops of jujubes, and was looking at exporting some of its output as the dried product. In 2023 the company was planning to expand its production by planting around 40,000 jujube trees on its land near Shepparton, Victoria. By mid-2025, there were about 60 growers and around 50,000 trees planted in Australia, according to AgriFutures Australia. Growers said that a national body was needed to establish export markets and create more public awareness of the fruit domestically.
Pests
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