Flora of North America species comparison

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Lycium californicum

California box-thorn, California desert-thorn
Habit Shrubs prostrate to erect, 0.1–2 m; bark yellowish to gray; stems glabrous.
Leaves

blade spheric to spatulate, 2–25 × 1–3 mm, fleshy to succulent, surfaces glabrous.
Inflorescences

2–3-flowered fascicles or solitary flowers.
Pedicels

1–5 mm.
Flowers

bisexual or pistillate, 4-merous;

calyx campanulate, 2–4-lobed, 2–3 mm, lobe lengths 0.3 times tube;

corolla white to pale purple, campanulate, 2–6 mm, lobe lengths to 1 times tube;

stamens exserted (bisexual flowers) or included, with nonfunctional anthers (pistillate flowers).
Berries

orange to red, ovoid, 2–6 mm, thinly fleshy.
Seeds

2, each enclosed by a hard layer.
2n

= 24, 36, 48.

Lycium californicum
Phenology Flowering Jan–Mar(–Sep).
Habitat Saline flats, coastal flats and bluffs (Mediterranean floristic province, Sonoran Desert, and restricted locations in the Chihuahuan Desert).
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Zacatecas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Within the flora area, Lycium californicum occurs in southern Arizona and southwestern California. Populations of L. californicum vary in both ploidy (diploid to tetraploid) and sexual system (hermaphroditic to gender dimorphic). Gender dimorphic populations are morphologically gynodioecious (functionally dioecious), and plants are sexually dimorphic for flower size, with smaller pistillate flowers.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Lycium
Sibling taxa
L. andersonii, L. barbarum, L. berlandieri, L. brevipes, 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. californicum var. arizonicum, L. californicum var. interior, L. carinatum
Name authority Nuttall ex A. Gray in W. H. Brewer et al.: Bot. California 1: 542. (1876)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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