Li

'Li' is the cultivar that built the American jujube market. USDA plant explorer Frank N. Meyer collected it in Shanxi Province and sent it back in 1914 as Plant Introduction 38249; it was formally released through the Chico Plant Introduction Station in 1924 alongside 'Lang'. For most of the last century it was the dominant commercial and dooryard jujube in the United States, and it is still the variety nearly every nursery stocks first. It earns that place on sheer fruit size — NMSU trials record 25 to 30 g fruit, and UF/IFAS reports individual fruits reaching 85 g in Florida. It is grown chiefly for fresh eating, though California growers also dry it. The one discipline it demands is harvest timing: picked at the creamy or green stage the fruit is flavorless and shows every fingernail scratch, so it must be taken at roughly half-brown.