Goji Berry

Goji Berry, or Lycium barbarum, is a slightly thorny deciduous woody shrub native to the Yellow River valley in northwest China that produced small red nightshades that have been valued in traditional Chinese medicine for their anti-aging powers.

History

In the 16^th century the famous Chinese Phyto therapist and healer, Li Shudjun, remarked in his Foundations of Pharmacopedia that he was astonished by how many people in the village of Nanchu were centenarians, which he ascribed to the town’s water-well being surrounded by goji berries.

In the 18^th century Archibald Campbell, the 3^rd duke of Argyll, introduced the plant to the English Isle where it was used for hedgerows. Because it originated from the Dyke of Argyll’s garden, it is commonly referred to as The Duke of Argyll’s Tea Tree.

Until their recent introduction into health food markets under the name Goji berries, Europeans thought that the fruit of the Duke of Argyll’s Tea Tree was poisonous, and only valued the plant for its menial hedging habits.

Harvest

Goji berries grow optimally in cool, shady riverbanks which is why berries from Ningxia area in the valley of the Liupan Mountains and irrigated by the Yellow river are the most sought after. They begin bearing small purple flowers in the midsummer that turn into plump red berries in August when they are hand harvested with woven bamboo baskets before being dried in the sun. The shrubs typically do no start producing fruit until their second year and will not peak after five years.

Anatomy

The little bright orange-red fruit is a small ellipsoid berry that develops from a five-petal purple flower. The flowers grow in groups of one to three in leaf axils that shoot off from a three to nine-foot stalk.

Etymology

In the English-speaking world, the name Goji berry has only been around since the early 21st century and approximates the Mandarin word for the plant gǒuqǐ. Prior to that it was know as wolfberry which derives from a miss translation of its Latin name.