Lycium

Lycium
African boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Solanales
Family:	Solanaceae
Subfamily:	Solanoideae
Tribe:	Lycieae[1]
Genus:	Lycium L.[2]
Species
About 70-80, see text
Synonyms
Cantalea Raf. Evoista Raf. Jasminoides Duhamel Oplukion Raf. Panzeria J.F.Gmel. Teremis Raf.[2]

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.^[3]

The generic name is derived from the Greek word λυκιον (lycion), 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, the province in which it grew.^[4] Common names for the genus include box-thorn',^[5] desert-thorn, wolfberry,^[6] אטד aTaD (Hebrew), and gharqad (Arabic).

There are about 70^[3] to 80^[7][8] species.

Description

Lycium barbarum

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.^[5][7] Most Lycium have fleshy, red berries with over 10 seeds, but a few American taxa have hard fruits with two seeds.^[8]

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.^[9]

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 recommended as a treatment for sore eyes and inflammation, as does Pedanius Dioscorides in his P. Dioscoridae pharmacorum simplicium reique medicae.^[10]

Boxthorn (Hebrew אטד 'aTaD) is mentioned in the biblical Book of Proverbs as besetting the paths of the wicked (Proverbs 22:5). In his 1753 publication Species Plantarum, Linnaeus describes three Lycium species: L. afrum, L. barbarum, and L. europaeum.^[10]

L. barbarum

Lycium, particularly L. barbarum, have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat conditions such as male infertility.^[11] The fruit of L. barbatum and L. chinense, known as Goji, has become popular in western cultures for its supposed promotion of weight loss and general longevity.^[12] The Chinese tonic Fructus Lycii (Gou-Qi-Zi) is made of the fruit of any of several Lycium species, and is used as a supplement, especially for eye health.^[13]

Ecology

Lycium species mostly occur in arid and semi-arid climates, and a few are known from coastal zones in somewhat saline habitat types.^[3]

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.^[14]

Selected species

Lycium intricatum

Lycium sandwicense

Species include:^[15][16]

Lycium acutifolium Lycium afrum L. – Kraal honey thorn Lycium ameghinoi Lycium amoenum Lycium andersonii – Anderson boxthorn, water-jacket Lycium arenicola Lycium australe F.Muell. Lycium barbarum – Barbary matrimony-vine, Chinese boxthorn, Duke of Argyll's teaplant, goji-berry, Himalayan goji, Tibetan goji Lycium bosciifolium Lycium berlandieri Dunal – Berlandier wolfberry Lycium brevipes – Baja desert-thorn Lycium californicum – California boxthorn, California desert-thorn Lycium carolinianum Walter – Carolina desert-thorn, Christmas berry Lycium chilense Bertero Lycium chinense – Chinese teaplant, Chinese wolfberry, Chinese boxthorn Lycium cinereum Lycium cooperi – peachthorn, Cooper's wolfberry Lycium decumbens Lycium depressum Stocks Lycium eenii Lycium europaeum L. – European teatree, European matrimony-vine Lycium exsertum A.Gray – Arizona desert-thorn, littleleaf wolfberry Lycium ferocissimum – African boxthorn Lycium fremontii – Frémont's desert-thorn Lycium gariepense

Lycium grandicalyx Lycium hassei – Santa Catalina Island desert-thorn Lycium horridum Lycium hirsutum L. intricatum Lycium macrodon A.Gray – desert wolfberry Lycium mascarenense A.M. Venter & A.J. Scott (syn. L. tenue var. sieberi) Lycium nodosum Lycium oxycarpum Dunal Lycium pallidum Miers – pale desert-thorn Lycium parishii – Parish's desert-thorn Lycium pilifolium Lycium puberulum – downy desert-thorn Lycium pumilum Lycium ruthenicum Murray Lycium sandwicense A.Gray – ʻŌhelo kai, Hawaii desert-thorn Lycium schizocalyx Lycium schweinfurthii Lycium shawii Roem. & Schult. – Arabian boxthorn Lycium shockleyi – Shockley's desert-thorn Lycium sokotranum Lycium strandveldense Lycium tenue L. Lycium tenuispinosum Lycium tetrandrum Lycium texanum – Texas wolfberry Lycium torreyi – Torrey's boxthorn, squawthorn Lycium tweedianum – tropical desert-thorn Lycium villosum

Formerly placed here

• Serissa japonica (Thunb.) Thunb. (as L. foetidum L.f. or L. japonicum Thunb.)^[15]

References

1. "Genus Lycium". Taxonomy. UniProt. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
2. "Genus: Lycium L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
3. 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.
4. Austin, D. F. (2004). Florida Ethnobotany. CRC Press. p. 677. ISBN 9780849323324.
5. Lycium. The Jepson eFlora 2013.
6. Lycium. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
7. Lycium. Flora of China.
8. 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.
9. Miller, J. S. and D. L. Venable. (2002). The transition to gender dimorphism on an evolutionary background of self-incompatibility: an example from Lycium (Solanaceae). American Journal of Botany 89(12), 1907-15.
10. 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).
11. Luo, Q., et al. (2006). Lycium barbarum polysaccharides: Protective effects against heat-induced damage of rat testes and H₂O₂-induced DNA damage in mouse testicular cells and beneficial effect on sexual behavior and reproductive function of hemicastrated rats. Life Sciences 79(7), 613-21.
12. Ballarín, S. M., et al. (2011). Anaphylaxis associated with the ingestion of Goji berries (Lycium barbarum). J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 21(7), 567-70.
13. Peng, Y., et al. (2005). Quantification of zeaxanthin dipalmitate and total carotenoids in lycium fruits (Fructus Lycii). Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 60(4), 161-64.
14. Lycium ferocissimum (African boxthorn). Invasive Species Compendium. CABI.
15. "GRIN Species Records of Lycium". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
16. "Lycium". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2010-12-13.

External links

• Project Lycieae, Amherst College