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Vascular Plants of California
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Lycium barbarum
MATRIMONY VINE


Higher Taxonomy
Family: SolanaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: NIGHTSHADE FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub. Leaf: generally simple, generally alternate, generally petioled; stipules 0; blade entire to deeply lobed. Inflorescence: various. Flower: bisexual; calyx lobes generally 5; corolla +- radial, cylindric to rotate, lobes generally 5; stamens 5, on corolla tube, alternate lobes; ovary superior, generally 2-chambered, style 1. Fruit: berry, loculicidal or septicidal capsule, [(drupe)], 2--5-chambered.
Genera In Family: 75 genera, 3000 species: worldwide, especially +- tropics; many alien weeds in California; many cultivated for food, drugs, or ornamental (potato, tomato, peppers, tobacco, petunia). Toxicity: many TOXIC. Note: Nicandra physalodes (L.) Gaertn. is a waif.
eFlora Treatment Author: Michael H. Nee
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: LyciumView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: BOX-THORN, WOLFBERRY
Habit: Shrub 1--4 m, generally with thorns, glabrous, hairy, or glandular-hairy. Leaf: alternate, clustered or not, entire, small, fleshy, generally +- flat to elliptic in ×-section. Inflorescence: clusters; flowers 1--several. Flower: calyx cylindric to bell-shaped, lobes 2--5; corolla funnel- or bell-shaped, +- white, +- green, or +- purple, lobes 4--5; stamens attached at various levels. Fruit: berry, 2-chambered, fleshy [dry]. Seed: 2--many.
Etymology: (Latin: Lycia, ancient country of Asia Minor)
Unabridged Reference: Hitchcock 1932 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 19:179--374
Lycium barbarum L.
NATURALIZED
Habit: Plant glabrous; thorns 0 or short; branches curved to arched. Leaf: 2--6 cm, (ob)lanceolate. Flower: calyx 3--4 mm, bell-shaped, lobes generally 2--3, 1--2 mm; corolla funnel-shaped, lavender to purple, fading tan, tube 4--6 mm, +- abruptly expanded to throat, lobes spreading, < tube; stamens +- equal, attached at tube middle, hair-tufted at base. Fruit: 1 cm, bright red. Seed: 10--20.
Ecology: Disturbed areas, fields; Elevation: < 1500 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SN, GV, SCo, MP, expected elsewhere; Distribution Outside California: native to Eurasia. Flowering Time: Apr--Aug Note: Plants with corolla tube < lobes and +- hidden by calyx are Lycium chinense Mill., a waif or possibly naturalized in central SNF, ScV, SCo; formerly cultivated.
Synonyms: Lycium halimifolium Mill.
Jepson eFlora Author: Michael H. Nee
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Lycium andersonii
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Citation for this treatment: Michael H. Nee 2012, Lycium barbarum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=32204, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.

No expert verified images found for Lycium barbarum.



Geographic subdivisions for Lycium barbarum:
s SN, GV, SCo, MP, expected elsewhere
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).