Li Jujube Tree

This is an interesting plant from China in which the fruit was used in Chinese medicine. The flowers have the interesting fragrance of grape soda. Flowers are small and yellow, typically arriving in June. The leaves are dark green and glossy and resemble those of a pear tree.

Li Jujube produces loads of candy like fruits at a very early age. The fruits (drupe) resemble a small egg in size and are green as they begin to mature in the fall. If eaten fresh and green they will be very crunchy and sweet like an apple with a bit of a syrupy overtone. As the fruits begin to ripen more, they turn a mahogany color and get sweeter as they age. They can be picked at this stage and allowed to wrinkle and dry after picking and should to be used like you would dates or raisins.

They are super sweet eaten fresh, preserved or dried. The wonderful thing about the fruit is they do not ripen all at the same time and can be harvested over the period of a few weeks. They dependently produce great crops of fruit year after year.

A small ornamental tree, they are great for your edible landscape along the back of your garden or lot. These trees love hot dry areas in full sun. Once established, they are very drought tolerant as well as insect and disease free. Li Jujube is self-fruitful and does not need another variety to be productive (and productive they are!). They can also be trained as low branched barrier plants as they do contain thorns. They make a beautiful stand-alone single specimen tree which will produce fruit dependably as they do not need a partner to make fruit.

It's time to add a Chinese Date to your edible landscape, and Li is the perfect starter plant for you.