Lycium barbarum L., Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 12 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Lycium halimifolium Mill.; Lycium vulgare Dunal

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ning xia gou qi

English: Barbary matrimony-vine, Chinese boxthorn, Chinese wolfberry, Duke of Argyll's teaplant, Duke of Argyll's teatree, Himalayan goji, Tibetan goji, goji-berry, matrimony vine

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Shrubs (small tree in cultivation) 0.8-2 m tall. Stems and branches glabrous, branches thorny. Leaves solitary or fasciculate, lanceolate or long elliptic, 2-3 cm x 3-6 mm. Inflorescences solitary or clustered flowers. Pedicel 1-2 cm. Calyx campanulate, 4-5 mm, usually 2-lobed, lobes 2- or 3- toothed at apex. Corolla purple, funnelform; tube 8-10 mm, obviously longer than limb and lobes; lobes 5-6 mm, spreading, margin glabrescent. Stamens and style slightly exserted. Berry red or orange-yellow, oblong or ovoid, 0.4-2 cm x 5-10 mm. Seeds usually 4-20, brown-yellow, ca. 2 mm"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand, "modified habitats close to original cultivation sites.  It was presumably introduced for forming hedges but is now a rather uncommon cultivated species. Apparently it does not fruit freely in New Zealand"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1226).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  China, naturalized and cultivated elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Voucher cited: J. Florence 2723 (PAP) Cultivée.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Slopes, near fields and houses or by ditches. Gansu, N Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, N Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang. Widely cultivated for medicine.
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1226)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Lycium barbarum, please let us know.