Jujube, also known as: longevity fruit, ornate Hovenia dulcis, chicken claw Lien, golden hook pear, jujube, stinky goji, chicken claw, dragon claw, curved Lolu Lolu, honey claw claw, etc., the Hakka called Tangerine Quintessence, Latin name Hovenia dulcis.

Shoots, young leaves abaxially, petioles and inflorescence axes are pubescent at first, and then glabrescent. Leaf blade elliptic-ovate, broadly ovate or cordate-ovate. Fruit stalks contain a lot of glucose and potassium malate, sweet after frost, can be eaten raw or brewing wine, commonly known as "corner"; wood hardness moderate, beautiful texture, for construction and furniture and art crafts and other timber. Distributed in Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu Longnan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces. The fruit form resembles ten thousand characters, so it is called the tree of ten thousand life fruit tree. Fruit ripe can be eaten raw, pulp pulp, no kernel, seeds exposed outside the pulp, taste pulp sweet slightly sweet and astringent, can also be made soup, soup flavor unique aroma.

Chinese name

Jujube

Latin name

Hovenia acerba Lindl.

Alias

Hovenia ornatae, Hovenia dulcis, Hovenia dulcis, Hovenia jujubae, Hovenia jujube, Hovenia jujube, Hovenia jujubae, Hovenia acerba Lindl.

Alias

Ornamas

Hovenia dulcis, Hovenia jujube, Hovenia jujube, Hovenia jujubae, Hovenia acerba Lindl. Angiospermae

Morphological features

Tall tree, 10-25 m tall; branchlets brown or black-purple, brown pubescent or glabrous, with conspicuous white lenticels. Leaves alternate, thickly papery to papery, broadly ovate, elliptic-ovate, or cordate, 8-17 cm long, 6-12 cm wide, apically long acuminate or short acuminate, base truncate or cordate, sparsely suborbicular or broadly cuneate, margin often neatly shallowly and obtusely serrulate, distal or near-apical leaves obscurely toothed, sparsely subentire, glabrous above, often pubescent or glabrous below along veins or vein axils; petiole 2-5 cm long, glabrous. Petiole 2-5 cm long, glabrous. Dichasial thyrses, terminal and axillary, brown pubescent; flowers bisexual, 5-6.5 mm across; sepals reticulate-veined or longitudinally striped, glabrous, 1.9-2.2 mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide; petals elliptic-spatulate, 2-2.2 mm long, 1.6-2 mm wide, clawed short; disk pilose; styles semilobed, sparsely lobed or parted, 1.7-2.1 mm long, glabrous. glabrous. Berrylike drupe subglobose, 5-6.5 mm in diam., glabrous, yellowish brown or tan at maturity; fruiting rachis distinctly inflated; seeds dark brown or blackish purple, 3.2-4.5 mm in diam. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

Deciduous tree, up to 10 m tall; shoots, abaxial surface of young leaves, petioles, and inflorescence rachis pubescent at first, glabrescent. Leaf blade elliptic-ovate, broadly ovate or cordate-ovate, 8-16 centimeters long, 6-11 centimeters wide, apically acuminate, base rounded or cordate, often asymmetric, margins serrulate, surface glabrous, abaxial surface pilose along veins or between veins. Dicotyledonous cymes terminal and axillary; flowers small, yellowish green, ca. 4.5 mm in diam. Fruiting stipe fleshy, twisted, reddish brown; fruit subglobose, glabrous, ca. 7 mm in diam. Fl. June, fr. Aug-Oct. Fruit morphology resembles the swastika, so it is called the fruit of longevity.

Fruit properties: (1) Hovenia dulcis seeds are flattened and rounded, slightly elevated on the back, the flag side is flatter, diameter -5mm, thickness 1-1.5mm. the surface is reddish brown, brownish black, or greenish brown, glossy, and can be seen under an enlarged microscope with scattered dots, the base of the depression has a bit of light-colored umbilicus, with a slightly concave chalazal at the top, and the ventral surface has longitudinal elevated seed ridges. The seed coat is hard, the endosperm is white, the cotyledons are yellowish, plump and rich in oil. The odor is slight, and the taste is slightly astringent. [2] (2) Jaegeria dulcis seeds are dark brown or black-purple, 3.2-4.5mm in diameter. (3) Hairy fruit Hovenia dulcis seeds are black, black-purple, or brown, suborbicular, 4-5.5mm in diameter, ribbed in the middle of the ventral surface, the back side sometimes with papillae. Guangdong, Guangxi and other places have even fleshy inflorescence axis together with the medicine. They are all full and glossy.

Microscopic identification: Hovenia dulcis seed cross-section: the outer epidermis is a column of fenestrated cells, about 180μm long, about 12μm wide, thin outer wall, thick side wall, narrow slit cavity, expanded against the inner wall, the outer side of the radiance band. Pigment layer cells in several rows, nearly ovate or polygonal, containing brown material, the inner rows of thin-walled cells are smaller, do not contain pigment. Inner epidermal cells radially extended, more neatly arranged. Outer endosperm cells are decadent, inner endosperm cell wall is thicker, cotyledon cell wall is thin, all filled with paste powder grain.

Growing environment

Born in open land, mountain slopes, forest margins or sparse forests below 2100 meters above sea level; often cultivated in gardens next to houses. [1] The date palm has a strong ability to adapt to the environment, drought-resistant, cold-resistant, and resistant to thin soil. It likes sunshine, and grows in the ravine, streamside, roadside or wetter hills below 1000 meters above sea level. Often mixed with other evergreen, deciduous broad-leaved tree species. If the soil is deep, fertile and moist, it can grow rapidly.

Distribution range

Produced in Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou. It is also found in India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and northern Myanmar. [1] The abducted jujube is widely distributed. It can be found throughout the Yellow River basin and Yangtze River basin in China. It also grows in Japan, North Korea and Russia.