Lycium australe F.Muell.

Species

Angiosperms > Solanales > Solanaceae > Lycium

Characteristics

Intricately branched shrub to 2.5 m with rigid branches; lateral branches leafy, often ending in a spine. Leaves usually clustered, narrowly obovoid to ellipsoid, to 25 mm long, thick and fleshy, greyish-green. Pedicels 2–5 mm long, sometimes longer. Calyx tubular to ellipsoid, 1.5–5 mm long. Corolla 8–12 mm long, creamy white, lilac towards limb; limb spreading. Stamens 4 or 5, included or scarcely exserted. Pistil 5–8 mm long. Fruiting calyx not deeply split. Berry ovoid to ellipsoid, 2–5 mm diam., |dull orange-red, with 5–20 seeds. Seeds 1.5–2 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, dull yellow.
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A medium sized shrub. It grows 0.5-2.5 m high and 1-3 m wide. There are many branches and they are entangled and spiny. The leaves are 0.3-2.5 cm long by 0.15-0.5 cm wide. The leaves are oval and succulent. The leaves occur in clusters of 5-8. They are grey-green. The flowers are 0.8-1.2 cm long. They are creamy white with darker markings on the throat and brown-purple on the exterior. The fruit is a berry 0.4-0.8 cm long by 0.5 cm wide. They are orange-red.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 1.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
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Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It grows on clay soils and these are often salty in semi-arid regions. It suits low rainfall, warm temperate regions. It can tolerate moderate frosts.
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Grows in subsaline soil at edges of salt lakes and claypans.
Loamy soils in dry country.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 7-11

Usage

The ripe berries are eaten.
Uses food medicinal
Edible fruits
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed. They germinate in 21-30 days.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
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Productivity -

Images

Lycium australe unspecified picture

Distribution

Lycium australe world distribution map, present in Australia

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:816351-1
WFO ID wfo-0001022658
COL ID 3WKGQ
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lycium australe