Lycium pallidum
| Lycium pallidum | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Solanales |
| Family: | Solanaceae |
| Genus: | Lycium |
| Species: | L. pallidum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Lycium pallidum | |
Lycium pallidum is a species of flowering plant in the
San Luis Potosi. In the United States it occurs from California to Texas and as far north as Utah and Colorado.[1]
Description
This shrub grows 1–3 metres (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall. It is a dense tangle of spiny spreading or erect branches. It can form bushy thickets.[1] The leaves are pale, giving the plant its name.[2] The flowers are solitary or borne in pairs. They are funnel-shaped and "creamy-yellow to yellowish-green" or "greenish cream, sometimes tinged with purple".[2] They are fragrant and pollinated by insects.[2] The fruit is a juicy, oval-shaped, shiny red berry containing up to 50 seeds. The plant reproduces by seed and it can also spread via cuttings, and by suckering and layering.[1]
Ecology and habitat
This plant grows in many types of desert habitat. It occurs in
willows
(Salix spp.),
Arizona walnut (Juglans major), Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii),
alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana), Arizona white oak (Quercus arizonica), and velvet ash (Fraxinus velutina).[1] This plant is common around Anasazi ruins; they may have simply collected it and dropped the seeds, but it is possible they cultivated it.[2]
Many types of animals consume the fruits.
Woodrats like the foliage.[1]
Uses
Navajo used it for toothache. They considered it a sacred plant and sacrificed it to the gods. Several groups used the fruit for food by eating it fresh, cooked, or dried, eating it mixed with clay, boiling it into a syrup, and making it into beverages.[3] Among the Zuni people, the berries are eaten raw when perfectly ripe or boiled and sometimes sweetened.[4] The ground leaves, twigs, and flowers were given to warriors for protection during war.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e Matthews, Robin F. 1994. Lycium pallidum. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
- ^ a b c d Lycium pallidum. International Institute of Tropical Forestry.
- ^ a b Lycium pallidum. University of Michigan Ethnobotany.
- ^ Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.68)
- ^ Stevenson, p.94
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lycium pallidum.