2. Lycium chinense Mill. (Chinese matrimony vine)
Pl. 562 a, b;
Map 2616
Leaf blades
1.2–4.0 cm long (to 5[–7] cm on rapidly elongating young shoots) elliptic,
ovate, or rhombic-ovate, occasionally lanceolate. Flower stalks 3–15 mm long.
Calyces 3–4 mm long, the lobes angled to a sharply pointed tip. Corollas 9–12
mm long, purple, narrowly bell-shaped; the tube shorter than to about as long
as the lobes, tubular to more or less funnel-shaped, the lobes spreading,
moderately to densely and minutely hairy along the margins. 2n=24, 36,
48. June–October.
Introduced,
uncommon, sporadic (native of Europe, Asia, introduced sporadically in the
eastern U.S. and California; Canada). Banks of streams and rivers; also old
homesites, farmyards, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas.