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Indian jujube Facts

Indian jujube Facts
Indian jujube, also known as Chinese apple, is an evergreen plant that belongs to the buckthorn family. It originates from South-East Asia, but it can be found in areas with tropical and subtropical climate around the world today. Indian jujube grows on sandy, loamy and gravelly, well-drained soil, exposed to full sun (usually in open forests, pastures, floodplains, near the roads and in the wastelands). It is classified as weed in Australia and Fiji. People cultivate Indian jujube as a source of food.
Interesting Indian jujube Facts:
Indian jujube grows in the form of shrub or small tree that can reach 4 to 40 feet in height and 33 feet in width. It produces numerous zigzag branches covered with curved thorns.
Indian jujube develops oval or ovate leaves with rounded tips and finely toothed or smooth margins. They are dark green, glossy on the upper side, hairy on the bottom side and alternately arranged on the branches.
Indian jujube produces greenish-yellow or whitish flowers arranged in small clusters (of 10 to 15 flowers) that grow from the axils of leaves. Flowers contain either both types of reproductive organs (bisexual) or only male parts (staminate).
Indian jujube blooms during the spring and summer. Flowers attract honeybees, wasps and flies, which are responsible for the pollination of this plant.
Fruit of Indian jujube is round- or egg-shaped drupe. It has smooth, thin skin, fleshy pulp and hard stone with two oval seed in the middle. Ripe fruit can be yellow, orange or reddish-brown colored.
Slightly unripe fruit has apple-like texture and taste. Fully ripe fruit has mealy texture, musky odor and wrinkled skin.
Indian jujube produces fruit two times per year (during the spring and autumn) in some areas. One tree can produce 5.000 to 30.000 fruit annually.
Indian jujube propagates mostly via seed.
Birds, pigs and livestock play important role in dispersal of seed of Indian jujube (they consume fruit and eliminate undigested seed via feces).
Indian jujube (fruit) is rich source of vitamin C and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. It can be consumed raw, dried, or in the form of juices, syrups and chutneys. Indian jujube is also used for the manufacture of liqueurs.
Young leaves and seed kernels of Indian jujube are also edible.
More than 90 varieties of Indian jujube are cultivated in India today.
Pigment extracted from the fruit of Indian jujube is used for dyeing of silk in Burma. Bark is source of brown pigment that is popular in Kenya.
Indian jujube can be used in treatment of superficial wounds, pulmonary ailments, indigestion (fruit), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain associated with pregnancy (seed), liver disorders, fever, asthma (leaves), diarrhea, dysentery and sores on the skin (bark), rheumatism and gout (root) and eye disorders (flowers).
Indian jujube is perennial plant that can survive more than 30 years in the wild.


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