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 wolfberry, Duke of Argyll's teaplant, Duke of Argyll's teatree, goji-berry, Himalayan goji, matrimony vine, Tibetan goji

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. (2011) 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	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1226)

Additional information:
Fact sheet from Weeds Australia (PDF format).

Additional online information about Lycium barbarum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Lycium barbarum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Lycium barbarum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).