History of Jojoba

Jojoba (Simmodsia chinensis) is a perennial woody shrub native to the semiarid regions of southern Arizona, southern California and northwestern Mexico. Jojoba (pronounced ho-HO-ba) is being cultivated to provide a renewable source of a unique high-quality oil.

Jojoba flower

Native Americans extracted the oil from jojoba seeds to treat sores and wounds centuries ago. Collection and processing of seed from naturally occurring stands in the early 1970s marked the beginning of jojoba domestication. In addition, the ban on the importation of sperm whale products in 1971 led to the discovery that jojoba oil is in many regards superior to sperm oil for applications in the cosmetics and other industries.

Jojoba Shrub

Today, 40,000 acres of jojoba are under cultivation in the southwestern U.S. Much of the interest in jojoba worldwide is the result of the plant's ability to survive in a harsh desert environment. The utilization of marginal land that will not support more conventional agricultural crops could become a major asset to the global agricultural economy.

The oldest commercial jojoba plantings in the U.S. were established in the late 1970s, and present production of jojoba oil is in the range of thousands of tons per year. The major world producers are the United States and Mexico, with considerable quantities of oil being exported to Japan and Europe.



Compliments of this excerpt goes to Purdue University

Information Sources:

• Benzioni, A. and M. Forti. 1989. Jojoba. Pages 448-461 in Oil Crops of the World. G. Robbelen, R.K. Downey, and A. Ashri (eds.) McGraw-Hill Publishing Company; New York. 553 pages.


• Bloomfield, Frena. 1985. Jojoba and Yucca. Century Hutchinson Publishing, London.


• Foster, K.E., M.M. Karpiscak, J.G. Taylor and N.G. Wright. 1983. Guayule, jojoba, buffalo gourd and Russian thistle: Plant characteristics, products and commercialization potential. Desert Plants 5(3):112-126.


• Jojoba Growers Association. 1990. Jojoba Happenings, Newsletter of the Association. Phoenix, Arizona.


• National Research Council. 1985. Jojoba: New Crop for Arid Lands, New Raw Material for Industry. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.


• Naqvi, H.H., G. Goldstein, C. Ratnayake, T. Ceccardi, and I.P. Ting. 1988. Jojoba breeding and agronomic investigations at UC Riverside. Proceedings: Seventh International Conference on Jojoba and Its Uses. A.R. Baldwin (ed.) American Oil Chemists' Society; Champaign, Ill. p. 395-409.


• Weiss E.A. 1983. Crambe, niger and jojoba. Pages 507-527 in Oilseed Crops. Longman; London.


• Yermanos, D.M. 1979. Jojoba: A crop whose time has come. California Agriculture. July-August 1979. pp. 4-11.