History

There are two types of jujube that are cultivated for the fruit: the Indian Jujube, also called Ber, and the Chinese Jujube, the type that we are concerned with here. The Chinese have been cultivating the jujube for more than 4000 years. There are over 700 named varieties in China. The Chinese must have had a long process of domestication and gradual introduction over so many years. Good fruited varieties must have been collected or propagated from wild jujubes. Propagation techniques such as grafting were well known to the early Chinese. Seed would have been planted, the good offspring kept and those with useless fruit discarded. By the 6^th Century A.D., Jai Sixie in the agricultural encyclopedia "Qui min yao Shu (Essential Arts for the People) recorded 45 selections of jujube. The cultivars of Chinese Jujube vary greatly in growth requirements and behavior. The varieties have been adapted and selected over thousands of years to fit a niche in the particular area where they were grown. I have noted that the  variety "Honey Jar" will grow better and larger for me than is reported in Southern California where it is considered to be a dwarf, so the Chinese were very selective in their breeding and selection process and picked only those plants that would do well in their area. Plants grow better and larger when they are planted in the same type conditions where they orignated in China. There are northern types and southern types in China and varieties that are better for fresh eating and varieties that are better for drying or processing. We have around 40 varieties of jujube in the United States now but some of the best varieties have yet to be imported from China including two or three varieties that are considered "seedless".

Chinese jujube seedlings, which are inferior to the selected varieties in China, were introduced into Europe and became distributed in the Mediterranean basin. They are small and not very good in taste, but were used in Europe for many years. Seedlings were brought to the United States in the 1800's, but not until 1908 did improved varieties arrive here. Frank Meyer, a noted fruit explorer, sent cuttings (budwood) to the Plant Introduction Station of the USDA at Chico, California. They established a breeding program and germplasm collection at Chico. They distributed plants and budwood from Chico to various places in the US especially California, Texas and Oklahoma. Some went to the Southeast and Florida not thought to be the best growing areas. Suprisingly, some of the plants adapted and we now have one or two varieties that do well in the Southeast. There is at least one variety that was sent to Louisiana with other plants from China, that is how we aquired the variety "Sherwood", J. Sherwood Akin found the jujube growing at an old plantation in Louisiana. New varieties have also been imported from China in recent years by Roger Meyer of California.