Chinese teaplant is a thorny East Asian shrub with lavender flowers and small red berries, one source of goji berries. It is native to China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan and has been introduced to the US. It looks much like its close relative matrimony vine (Lycium barbarum), which has narrower leaves; its berries are also called wolfberries.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A deciduous, much-branched shrub 3–10 ft (1–3 m) tall, with pale gray, arching or drooping branches and thorns 0.2–0.8 in (0.5–2 cm) long.
- Leaves
- Oval to diamond- or lance-shaped, usually 0.6–2 in (1.5–5 cm) long, borne singly or in small bundles.
- Flowers
- Lavender to light purple, about 0.4–0.55 in (9–14 mm) across, with five (sometimes six) lobes; one to three flowers sit in each leaf axil.
- Flowering time
- Summer to fall
- Fruit
- Bright orange-red, egg-shaped berries 0.3–0.9 in (7–22 mm) long (the larger sizes are on cultivated plants), ripening July to October, each holding many flat yellow seeds.
Look-alikes
Matrimony vine has narrow leaves, about 1/8–1/4 in (3–6 mm) wide, and a calyx usually split into two lobes. Chinese teaplant has broader leaves, about 1/4–1 1/2 in (5–40 mm) wide, a calyx cut into 3–5 lobes, and hairy edges on the petal lobes.
Why they get mixed upBoth are thorny, arching shrubs with lavender flowers and red goji berries. In New England, Chinese teaplant is recorded in five states and matrimony vine in all six.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Roadsides
- Sunny open ground
- Range
- Native to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Nepal, and Pakistan. Introduced in the lower 48 states and in Canada; in New England it is recorded in five of the six states, mostly on roadsides and in waste areas.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- The dried berries are steeped in hot water to make goji tea and have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine, though there is no high-quality clinical evidence that they affect health.
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