A Detailed Guide to the Black Goji Berry Tree's Appearance, Seed Prices, Places of Origin, and Mature Harvest Season

Black goji berry, also known as black-fruited wolfberry or Gan wolfberry, is a light-loving tree species that grows strong under full sunlight but becomes spindly in shade, producing very few flowers and fruits. It is not demanding about soil and is tolerant of salinity and drought. So do you know what its tree looks like? How much do the seeds cost per jin? Where is it produced? In what season does it mature for harvest? According to the Ningxia planting market, black goji berry seed prices range from a few yuan to a dozen yuan. The top-grade large black goji berries are priced at around 1900 yuan per jin, while first-grade Nuomuhong goji berries are priced at around 1600 yuan per jin. Top-grade small black goji berries are priced at around 1500 yuan per jin, and first-grade small black goji berries are priced at around 1000 yuan per jin.

What does the black goji berry tree look like?

It is a much-branched, spiny shrub, 20-50 (-150) cm tall; the branches are ascending or prostrate on the ground, white or grayish-white, hard, often zigzag-curved, with irregular longitudinal stripes; the tips of the branchlets taper into spines, the internodes are shortened, and each node bears short spines 0.3-1.5 cm long; short shoots sit on both sides of the spines, inconspicuous on young branches but becoming tuberculate on old branches, bearing clustered leaves or flower and leaf clusters together, while on even older branches the short shoots become leafless tuberculate protrusions. The leaves are borne 2-6 in clusters on short shoots, but alternately single on young branches; they are thick and fleshy, nearly sessile, linear, linear-lanceolate or linear-oblanceolate, sometimes narrowly lanceolate, with an obtuse-rounded apex and a narrowed base, sometimes slightly rolled downward on both sides, with an inconspicuous midrib, 0.5-3 cm long and 2-7 mm wide.

Where is the black goji berry produced?

In China, it is scattered in places such as Jiuquan in Gansu, western Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, western Inner Mongolia and Tibet. It grows on barren mountains and wild ridges and in riverbed sandbars where humans cannot survive, possessing extremely strong vitality. However, with human development of nature, the living space of the black-fruited wolfberry is becoming smaller and smaller, which has made it a rare and precious high-grade original-ecology tonic.

In what season does the black goji berry mature for harvest?

1. Xinjiang black goji berry sprouts and unfolds its leaves from late March to early April each year; it flowers and sets fruit successively from late April to mid-June; the fruit matures from late June to mid-July; and the leaves dry up and fall from late September to early October. From sprouting to fruit maturity takes about 140 days, and the growth period is about 150 days.

2. Qinghai black goji berry sprouts and unfolds its leaves from late May to early June each year; it flowers and sets fruit successively from late June to mid-July; the fruit matures from late August to mid-September; and it dries up and falls from late October. From sprouting to fruit maturity takes about 180 days, and the growth period is about 200 days.

Relatively speaking, Qinghai black goji berries mature and are harvested a little later than Xinjiang ones. Xinjiang black goji berries begin to be harvested in July each year, but Qinghai goji berries are not harvested until after August. The growth cycle of Qinghai black goji berries is longer than that of Xinjiang ones, so the anthocyanin content of Qinghai black goji berries is slightly higher.