THE CHINESE JUJUBE. 
Ziziphus jujtJBA Mill., 1768, Gard. Diet., ed. 8, I. 
Rhamnus zizyphus L., 1753, Sp. PI. 194. 
Z. sativa Gaertn.. 1788. Fruct. I. 202. 
Z. vulgaris Lam., 1789, Encycl. Meth. Bot. Ill, 310. 
Z. sinensis Lam., 1789, Encycl. Meth. Bot. Ill, 317. 
A shrub or tree 20 to 40 feet high (PI. I) ; branches zigzag; spines in pairs, 
straight, or slightly curved; leaves arising from the axils of the spines. \\ to '6 
inches long and about 1 inch broad, thin, slightly toothed on the margins, borne 
on short leafstalks; flowers on the lateral brandies. 2 to 10 in a cluster, on 
very short stalks, small, 
yellowish green ; fruit 
oval, about the size of 
a plum, of sweetish 
taste ; stone oblong, 
sharply pointed. 
The bark on the 
trunks of older trees 
is dark gray with 
rather narrow, some- 
what stratified 
ridges and deep fur- 
rows. The ridges 
are broken up by 
horizontal cross fis- 
sures at frequent in- 
tervals. On the older 
branches the ridges 
are broad and flat, 
while on the younger 
ones the bark is 
smooth, reddish 
brown in color, with 
a distinct bloom. 
Many of the culti- 
vated varieties have 
spines when young 
but lose them with 
age ; when present, 
the spines may be 1^ 
inches long. There 
may be one or more 
deciduous branches 
at each node; on 
these are usually 
borne the leaves and 
fruit. These slender 
branches with their 
regularly arranged 
leaves are sometimes mistaken for compound leaves. Morphologi- 
cally these are branches, as is evidenced by the production of flowers in 
the axils of the leaves (fig. 1). As the woody branches become older 
there is a gradual building up of tissue at each node, and the number 
of deciduous branches arising from a given node increases until there 
may be as many as 10 produced each year instead of one. ( Fig. 2. 1 
The peculiar habit of the jujube of shedding its young branches 
gives the tree an open appearance which, with the rather short re- 
Fig. 2. — Portion of a lateral branch of the jujube, show- 
ing the origin of the deciduous branches at the nodes. 
The number of deciduous branches increases with age. 
