Lycium

''Lycium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The genus has a disjunct distribution around the globe, with species occurring on most continents in temperate and subtropical regions. South America has the most species, followed by North America and southern Africa. There are several scattered across Europe and Asia, and one is native to Australia.Fukuda, T., et al. (2001)
Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus ''Lycium'' (Solanaceae): Inferences from chloroplast DNA sequences.
''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 19(2), 246-58. Common English names for plants of this genus include box-thorn''Lycium''.
The Jepson eFlora 2013. and desert-thorn.

There are about 70 to 80''Lycium''.
Flora of China.Levin, R. A. and J. S. Miller. (2005)
Relationships within tribe Lycieae (Solanaceae): paraphyly of ''Lycium'' and multiple origins of gender dimorphism.
''American Journal of Botany'' 92(12), 2044-53. species. The most common are ''Lycium barbarum'' and ''Lycium chinense'', whose fruits (wolfberries or goji berries) are a traditional food crop in China.

Etymology

The generic name ''Lycium'' is derived from the Greek word λυκιον (''lykion''), which was applied by Pliny the Elder (23-79) and Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90) to a plant known as dyer's buckthorn. It was probably a '' Rhamnus'' species and was named for Lycia (Λυκία), the ancient southern Anatolian region in which it grew.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . The berry is called ''lycii fructus'' ("lycium fruit") in old Latin pharmacological texts.

Description

''Lycium'' are shrubs, often thorny, growing 1 to 4 meters tall. The leaves are small, narrow, and fleshy, and are alternately arranged, sometimes in fascicles. Flowers are solitary or borne in clusters. The funnel-shaped or bell-shaped corolla is white, green, or purple in color. The fruit is a two-chambered, usually fleshy and juicy berry which can be red, orange, yellow, or black. It may have few seeds or many. Most ''Lycium'' have fleshy, red berries with over 10 seeds, but a few American taxa have hard fruits with two seeds.

While most ''Lycium'' are monoecious, producing bisexual flowers with functional male and female parts, some species are gynodioecious, with some individuals bearing bisexual flowers and some producing functionally female flowers.

Uses

''Lycium'' has been known to European herbalists since ancient times, and species were traded from the Far East to Europe by the Romans, for example via Ariaca and the port of Barbarikon near today's Karachi, as mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''. In his ''Naturalis historia'', Pliny the Elder describes boxthorn as a medicinal plant, as does Pedanius Dioscorides in his ''P. Dioscoridae pharmacorum simplicium reique medicae''.

In his 1753 publication ''Species Plantarum'', Linnaeus describes three ''Lycium'' species: '' L. afrum'', '' L. barbarum'', and '' L. europaeum''.Hitchcock, C. L. (1932). A monographic study of the genus ''Lycium'' of the Western Hemisphere. ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 19(2/3), 179-348 and 350-66. doi:10.2307/2394155 (First page image).

''Lycium'', particularly ''L. barbarum'', have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. The leaves and roots of other species of ''Lycium'', such as ''L. europaeum'', when mixed with water, have been used in folk medicine. The fruit of ''L. barbatum'' and ''L. chinense'', known as goji berry, is commonly consumed as a dried fruit. The Chinese tonic ''gou qi zi'' ("wolfberry fruit") is made of the fruit of any of several ''Lycium'' species, and is used as a dietary supplement.

Ecology

''Lycium'' species mostly occur in arid and semi-arid climates, and a few are known from coastal zones in somewhat saline habitat types.

Invasive species include ''L. ferocissimum'', which was introduced to Australia and New Zealand and has become a dense, thorny pest plant there. It injures livestock, harbors pest mammals and insects, and displaces native species.''Lycium ferocissimum'' (African boxthorn).
Invasive Species Compendium. CABI.

Selected species

Species include:

* '' Lycium acutifolium''
* ''Lycium afrum'' L. – Kraal honey thorn
* '' Lycium ameghinoi''
* ''Lycium amoenum''
* ''Lycium andersonii

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