THE POMEGRANATE AND THE JUJUBE 385 



them seems to be that the leaves of the first-named are 

 glabrous while those of the second are tomentose beneath. 

 Further study will be required to show the proper classification 

 of many cultivated forms. 



The jujube is a small, somewhat spiny tree reaching a height 

 of 25 or 30 feet. Its leaves are alternate, three-nerved, elliptic- 

 ovate, ovate, or suborbicular in outline, commonly 1J to 3 

 inches in length. The small greenish flowers are produced upon 

 slender deciduous branchlets, or occasionally upon the old wood. 

 The fruit is a small drupe, elliptic or oblong to spherical in form, 

 from \ to 2 inches in length, with a thin dark brown skin, and 

 having whitish flesh of crisp or mealy texture and sweet agreeable 

 flavor, inclosing a hard two-celled stone, elliptic to oblate in 

 form and rough on the surface. 



In searching botanical literature for data regarding the his- 

 tory and distribution of the jujube, it is impossible to determine, 

 in many cases, whether Z. Jujitba or Z. mauritiana is the species 

 discussed. One or the other (probably both in some instances) 

 is cultivated in China, in the Philippines, through the Malayan 

 region to India and Africa, and westward through Afghanistan, 

 Persia, Arabia, and Asia Minor to the Mediterranean coast of 

 France, Spain, and North Africa. In China the general name is 

 tsao; in India Z. Jujuba is called the common jujube, anab, un- 

 nab, while Z. mauritiana is called the Indian jujube, ber, bor, and 

 the like. In Arabia the common term for one species is nabk. 



The late Frank N. Meyer, to whom we are indebted for many 

 fine Chinese varieties of this fruit, observed, during his explora- 

 tions in China, that the jujube could be used in several different 

 ways. The fresh fruits of some varieties are excellent to eat 

 out of hand. Dried, they resemble dates in character. Jujubes 

 are sometimes boiled with millet and rice ; they may be stewed 

 or baked in the oven; they are used, raisin fashion, to make 

 jujube-bread ; and they are turned into glace fruits by boiling 



them in honey and sugar sirup. Meyer particularly lauds the 

 2c 



