Jojoba
Simmondsia chinensis
Family: Simmondsiaceae
Evergreen shrub typically 4x4’. Plants are dioecious, meaning separate male and female plants. If you are growing this for the fruits, make sure you have both.
The selection called ‘Estrella’ is a female clone that form rounded shrubs 5' tall, 3-4' wide. Females, of course, produce the nuts.
Grow in full sun, with low water, hardy to 10° F.
Larval food for the Electra buckmoth (Hemileuca electra), Fortunate Wave (Idaea bonifata), and a tortrix moth, Epinotia kasloana.
Now grown all over the world as an important oil crop, not only for cosmetics but also for industrial applications that previously used sperm whale oil (the jojoba is attributed to the preserving of that whale).
Photo by Keir Morse, iNaturalist
Simmondsia chinensis on SEINET
A funny thing about the botanical name—despite its scientific name Simmondsia chinensis, the plant is not native to China. The botanist Johann Link originally named the species Buxus chinensis, after misreading a collection label “Calif”, referring to California, as “China”.
Simmondsia is a monotypic genus, there is only one species. Simmondsia is named for Thomas Simmonds (1767-1804), an English botanist, while chinensis means of or referring to China.
Found on dry hills, outwash slopes and along arroyos in gravelly or rocky soils from 1,500-5,000 ft. in Arizona, southern California, Baja California, and Sonora.
Male flowers, photo by Fred Fisher, SEINET
Female flowers, photo by Paul Rothrock, SEINET
The developing green fruit (capsule), photo by Dave Sussman, SEINET
Dried capsules contain a single seed, photo by Shannon Henke, SEINET