What are goji berry, digupi, and goji leaves?

Scientific name: Lycium chinense Mill.

Common names: digupi, goji leaves, goji berry, goji tips, goudiya digupi

Family and genus: Lycium

Category: deciduous shrub

Morphological characteristics:

A perennial deciduous small shrub, 60-100 cm tall, with taller ones reaching over 200 cm. It has a taproot system with well-developed lateral roots; one- and two-year-old cuttings have no main root, and many fibrous roots are distributed shallowly. The branches of the goji plant are slender, often curved and drooping, and the thorns growing in the leaf axils are relatively short. Each cutting propagated from a stem cutting produces 3-5 branches. Leaves are alternate, or clustered on short branches, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-4 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, entire, with short petioles, soft in texture, light green or bright green.

Flowers are axillary, usually 1-5 clustered together; pedicels are long, the calyx is bell-shaped, usually with 3-5 toothed lobes; the corolla is funnel-shaped, usually 5-lobed, light purple. The fruit is a berry, oblong, about 1.5 cm long, bright red when ripe. Seeds are numerous, light yellow, kidney-shaped or nearly flat-round, with a 1000-seed weight of about 1 gram. It takes about 45 days from flower bud to seed maturity.

Flowering period is June-August, fruiting period is September-October.

Origin and distribution:

Native to China, from southwestern Liaoning and Shaanxi to the Yangtze River basin.

Growth habits:

It has strong adaptability, is very cold-tolerant, and is not tolerant of high temperatures. When the soil temperature is 1-2°C, the root system begins to grow and become active; at 8-14°C, root growth and activity accelerate, and density reaches its maximum. When the air temperature is above 8°C, winter buds begin to sprout, and at 10°C leaf buds begin to open. The suitable temperature range for plant growth is 15-25°C; at this time, growth speed is fastest, below 10°C growth is slow, and above 25°C growth is poor. The optimal ten-day average temperature for flowering is 16-23°C. The suitable temperature for fruit ripening is 20-25°C.

Goji is a light-loving plant, and its growth and development require sufficient light conditions, especially for axillary bud sprouting and new leaf growth, which need good light. Therefore, in cultivation and management, attention should be paid to improving light transmission conditions.

Goji has very strict requirements for moisture and is relatively drought-tolerant.

Ornamental applications:

For potted goji, after leaf fall, dig up old wild plants with twisted branches and trunks as stump landscape material, first maintain them indoors, and prepare them later for stump bonsai.

When planted by riversides, lakesides, and on rockeries, the red fruits on the branch tips are very distinctive to view; potted goji, when given artistic shaping, is even more beautiful.