jojoba

a.k.a. goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, and gray box bush
latin name: simmondsia chinensis

zone:  9-10
type: tender perennial
light: full sun
height: in it’s native zone grows into a shrub 3-6 ft (1-2 m)

description:   This shrub is native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico.  Multi-stemmed with leathery, gray-green, oblong-ovate leaves.  Small petal-less flowers appear in spring.  

harvest:  Seeds are harvested for the oil.

uses:  Used medicinally for external purposes.  Commercially the oil is added cosmetic and pharmaceutical products .  Jojoba oil has numerous industrial applications as well.   The oil squeezed from the seeds has proved to be so valuable it is called the new ‘liquid gold’.