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Berlandier wolfberry, Berlandier's wolfberry

box-thorn, desert-thorn, lycium, wolfberry

Habit Shrubs erect, 0.7–2.5 m; bark tan to gray to reddish or almost black; stems glabrous or pubescent. Shrubs, glabrous or hairy, leaves sometimes glaucous.
Stems

erect to prostrate, spinescent, with single (rarely) or multiple branches (often with divaricate branching).

Leaves

blade linear to spatulate, 1.5–15 × 1–4.5 mm, surfaces glabrous.

alternate, usually in fascicles (often drought-deciduous), petiolate or sessile, sometimes succulent;

blade simple.

Inflorescences

2–3-flowered fascicles or solitary flowers.

axillary, fasciculate or solitary flowers.

Pedicels

3–20 mm.

Flowers

4–5-merous;

calyx cupulate, 1–3 mm, lobe lengths 0.3 times tube;

corolla white to pale lavender, tubular to funnelform, 4–9 mm, lobe lengths 0.17–0.3 times tube;

stamens included to exserted.

bisexual or unisexual, 4–5(–6)-merous, radially symmetric or calyx occasionally ± bilateral;

calyx cupulate, tubular, or campanulate, sometimes accrescent in fruit;

corolla white, greenish, yellowish, or lavender to deep purple lobes sometimes white with purple veins, tubular, funnelform, campanulate, or campanulate-rotate, lobes spreading or reflexed;

stamens inserted at or proximal to midpoint of corolla tube, equal or unequal;

anthers dorsifixed, ovate, dehiscing by longitudinal slits;

ovary 2-carpellate;

style filiform;

stigma slightly 2-lobed.

Fruits

berries, juicy, occasionally hardened or drupaceous, globose to ovoid, rarely with constrictions (L. cooperi, L. macrodon, and L. puberulum).

Berries

orange to red, globose, 5 mm, fleshy.

Seeds

50+.

discoid to auriform, flattened.

x

= 12.

2n

= 24.

Lycium berlandieri

Lycium

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Desert washes, rocky slopes, flats (Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts).
Elevation 300–900 m. (1000–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; Mexico; South America; West Indies; Eurasia; Africa; Atlantic Islands; Indian Ocean Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Within the flora area, Lycium berlandieri occurs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; it has been reported from western Oklahoma (Harmon and Jackson counties).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species ca. 90 (18 in the flora).

Species of Lycium typically inhabit subtropical regions, often growing in desert, coastal, or saline environments. Some species can spread vegetatively via root suckering; plants have also been known to sprout from roots. Most species of Lycium are hermaphroditic; some are gynodioecious or dioecious. At least two species, L. californicum and L. carolinianum, are polymorphic for sexual strategy, having either hermaphroditic or dimorphic (gynodioecious or functionally dioecious) populations. Most species are diploid; some are polyploid. Polyploidy is positively correlated with sexual dimorphism.

Lycium appears to have evolved in South America, with subsequent dispersal to North America and a single long-distance dispersal event to the Old World. Grabowskia Schlechtendal and Phrodus Miers were formerly treated as separate genera; they have been transferred to Lycium.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Berries not fleshy, green to yellow, orange, or brown, seeds 2–10.
→ 2
2. Berries not constricted; flowers 4(–5)-merous; plants 0.3–0.6 m, bark pale tan to white.
L. shockleyi
2. Berries constricted; flowers (4–)5-merous; plants 0.6–3 m, bark usually dark brown, sometimes reddish, purple, or black.
→ 3
3. Berries constricted at or distal to middle; calyx lobe lengths 0.5–1 times tube; leaf surfaces usually densely glandular-pubescent, not glaucous.
L. cooperi
3. Berries constricted proximal to middle, calyx lobe lengths 1–2 times tube; leaf surfaces glabrous or pubescent, glaucous.
→ 4
4. Calyx lobes linear; Sonoran Desert.
L. macrodon
4. Calyx lobes ovate; Chihuahuan Desert.
L. puberulum
1. Berries ± fleshy, red to orange to orange-yellow; seeds 2–50+.
→ 5
5. Seeds 2, each enclosed by a hard layer forming a pyrene.
L. californicum
5. Seeds 4–50+, each not enclosed by a hard layer.
→ 6
6. Leaves glaucous; corollas (8–)12–25 mm, funnelform.
L. pallidum
6. Leaves rarely glaucous; corollas 4–16(–20) mm, tubular, funnelform, campanulate, or campanulate-rotate.
→ 7
7. Calyx cupulate (to tubular in L. torreyi).
→ 8
8. Corollas narrowly tubular or narrowly tubular-funnelform.
→ 9
9. Corolla lobe margins glabrous or sparsely ciliate.
L. andersonii
9. Corolla lobe margins densely ciliate-lanate.
L. torreyi
8. Corollas tubular to funnelform or campanulate-rotate.
→ 10
10. Corollas campanulate-rotate; coastal or wetland areas.
L. carolinianum
10. Corollas tubular to funnelform; mainly desert areas.
→ 11
11. Leaf surfaces glabrous.
L. berlandieri
11. Leaf surfaces pubescent.
L. texanum
7. Calyx tubular, campanulate, or tubular-campanulate.
→ 12
12. Calyx tubular or tubular-campanulate, 2–10 mm.
→ 13
13. Leaf surfaces glabrous; plants with bisexual flowers only.
L. ferocissimum
13. Leaf surfaces glandular-pubescent; plants with either pistillate flowers or bisexual flowers.
→ 14
14. Corollas deep lavender to purple, 8–20 mm; stamens included or slightly exserted; saline desert flats.
L. fremontii
14. Corollas greenish white to lavender, 7–14 mm; stamens exserted 2–3+ mm from corolla in bisexual flowers; desert washes and bajadas.
L. exsertum
12. Calyx campanulate, 2–6 mm.
→ 15
15. Leaf surfaces glabrous; pedicels 10–20 mm; corollas funnelform; occurring mainly near habitation.
→ 16
16. Corolla lobes equaling or longer than tube; leaves subsessile.
L. chinense
16. Corolla lobes shorter than or equaling tube; leaves petiolate.
L. barbarum
15. Leaf surfaces glabrous or puberulent to densely pubescent; pedicels 1–10 mm; corollas campanulate to tubular or funnelform; not restricted to human-modified areas.
→ 17
17. Leaf surfaces glabrous or puberulent; corollas lavender or white with purple markings, campanulate to tubular; berries 10 mm; coastal desert areas, including by the Salton Sea.
L. brevipes
17. Leaf surfaces densely pubescent; corollas pale lavender to purple, narrowly campanulate to funnelform; berries 4–7 mm; inland, along desert washes and bajadas.
L. parishii
Source FNA vol. 14. FNA vol. 14. Authors: Rachel A. Levin, Jill S. Miller.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Lycium Solanaceae
Sibling taxa
L. andersonii, L. barbarum, L. brevipes, L. californicum, L. carolinianum, L. chinense, L. cooperi, L. exsertum, L. ferocissimum, L. fremontii, L. macrodon, L. pallidum, L. parishii, L. puberulum, L. shockleyi, L. texanum, L. torreyi
Subordinate taxa
L. andersonii, L. barbarum, L. berlandieri, L. brevipes, L. californicum, L. carolinianum, L. chinense, L. cooperi, L. exsertum, L. ferocissimum, L. fremontii, L. macrodon, L. pallidum, L. parishii, L. puberulum, L. shockleyi, L. texanum, L. torreyi
Synonyms L. berlandieri var. longistylum, L. berlandieri var. parviflorum, L. berlandieri var. peninsulare
Name authority Dunal in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 13(1): 520. (1852) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 191. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 88. (1754)
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