Lotus jujube

Photo: Nanosanchez — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small, mealy fruit, edible fresh but not comparable in size or sweetness to the cultivated Chinese jujube (Z. jujuba) — eaten locally and traditionally ground into a flour-like paste, and the plant this catalog's Rhamnaceae section is named for: ancient Greek writers' "lotus" of the mythical Lotus-eaters is widely identified as this species.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Nov

Mature size

1–3 m tall and wide, dense and thorny

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.5–8.5 (neutral to strongly alkaline), very drought-tolerant

Environment

Mediterranean to semi-arid

Native range

Mediterranean basin and North Africa — Spain, southern France, Italy, Greece, Morocco to Libya — dry scrubland, coastal dunes and rocky ground.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Small, ovate, 1.5–4 cm, finely toothed, with paired spines at the base

Root system

Deep and extensive, adapted to arid conditions

Fruit description

Small globose drupes, 1–2 cm, orange-brown, mealy dry flesh over a hard stone

Propagation

Seed (scarify, then sow after removing pulp), root cuttings, or suckers.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated and self-fertile.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.