Lycium
(from Lukion, a name given to the Rhamnus by Dioscorides, as coming from Lycia, in Asia Minor). Box Thorn. ORD. Solanaceae. An extensive genus (about seventy species have been described) of hardy or nearly hardy, deciduous, climbing or trailing, often spiny, shrubs or small trees. Flowers whitish, pale violet, pink, scarlet, or yellowish, small, variously disposed; corolla funnel-shaped. Leaves simple, entire or nearly so. The species are very free-flowering, and are admirably adapted for training against trellis-work or walls. They thrive in almost any well-drained and porous soil. Propagation is easily effected, in autumn or spring, by cuttings, by layers, or by suckers. In all probability, the only species introduced are those described below, which are all hardy.
L. afrum (African).* fl. violet, almost axillary, solitary, drooping June and July. l. fascicled. linear, canescent, attenuated at the base, obtuse, fleshy. h. 6ft. to 10ft. North Africa, 1712. An ornamental, erect, spiny shrub. (B. R. 354; S. B. F. G. 324.) L. barbarum (Barbary).* fl., twin, extra-axillary, pedicellate; corolla with a purple limb and a yellowish base. May to August l. lanceolate, flat, glabrous, acute. Branches angular, dependent. North Asia, 1696. An ornamental climbing shrub.
L. chinense (Chinese). fl. purple; peduncles much longer than the entire calyx. May. l. in threes, ovate, acute, attenuated at the base. Branches pendulous, prestrate, striated. China. A climbing shrub, very closely allied to L. europaeum, but the tube of the corolla is shorter, and constricted in the middle.
L. europaeum (European). fl. pale violet, reticulated with red veins, twin or solitary. May to August. l. fascicled, obovate-lanceolate, obtuse or spathulate, bent obliquely. Branches erect, loose. h. 10ft. to 12ft. South Europe, 1730. An erect, spiny shrub.
L. fuchsioides (Fuchsia-like). A synonym of Iochroma fuch-sioides.