North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hans Brinkmann <hans-brinkmann@t-online.de>]

Hallo Martha,

your comment about Permaclture and Donna's comment has been
very good and important... Thank you!



Lycium barbarum L,  = Wolf Berries = Goji berries

There is actually no real difference between Goji- and Wolf-berries,
both names mean Lycium barbarum. Some time ago, Donna explained it well.
Selections and the different red colors are responsible for different
market-names (and tastes)e.g. at China.
Most people mean Lycium barbarum if they talk about "Wolf berries".
Anyhow there is also Lycium pallidum which is called "Pale wolf berry" and
Lycium andersonii which is called also "wolf berry" at USA.
And Lycium chinensis is called outside China at USA wolf berry.
That's why it is always of much use to mention the Latin name together,
before people are going to details.

Because of this custom (to use only English names) it is much easier
to confuse and to misuse names. Especially about Goji berries there are 
many
anecdotal exaggerations just to increase the selling (Tibet sells!)...
Never those "Original Tibetan sellers" did ever mention a single
complete Latin name nor an harvest area...
Anyhow the plant (not very nice)is very easy to grow -like weed - in 
suitable areas
(e.g. all over in Germany)and the medical use seems to be significant.




http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lycium+barbarum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry


     Tibetan goji berry (Wikipedia)

Since the early 21st century, the names "Himalayan Goji berry" and 
"Tibetan Goji berry" have become common in the global health food 
market, applied to berries claimed to have been grown or collected in 
the Himalaya <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas> region [28] 
<http://www.gojiberry.com/> (or sometimes "the Tibetan and Mongolian 
Himalayas"[29] <http://www.gojiberries.us/>, a misnomer 
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/misnomer> because the Himalayas do not 
extend into Mongolia, which lies approximately 1000 miles to the 
northeast)[30] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia#Geography_and_climate>. Although 
none of the companies marketing such berries specifies an exact location 
in the Himalayas or Tibet where their berries are supposed to be grown, 
Earl Mindell <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Mindell>'s website 
states that his "Himalayan" Goji products do not actually come from the 
Himalayas, but instead from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and the Tian Shan 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Shan> Mountains of western Xinjiang, 
China[31] <http://gojiexpress.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=main.CID_01_004>.

Although /Lycium/ species do grow in some regions of Tibet, commercial 
export production of wolfberries in the Tibetan Himayalas must be a myth 
^[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry#_note-1> fabricated for a 
marketing advantage, as this mountain range bordering the Tibetan 
Plateau <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Plateau> is a region 
inhospitable to commercial cultivation of plant foods of any kind. 
Throughout southern and western Tibet in the Himalayan valleys, bleak 
desolation is unrelieved by any vegetation beyond sparse, low bushes[32] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet#Geography>.

The Tibetan Plateau <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Plateau>, 
comprising most of Tibet north of the Himalayas, lies at more than 
10,000 feet in altitude, with poor soil and arid climate conditions 
unfavorable for fruit crops. Defined by the geography of Tibet 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Tibet>, particularly in the 
western Himalayas, cold nighttime temperatures averaging -4°C year round 
[33] <http://www.lianghui.org.cn/english/2005/Sep/143266.htm> with six 
months of continual frost[34] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Plateau> would inhibit plant bud 
development and prevent fruit formation. Existing in Tibet are minimal 
subsistence agriculture 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistence_agriculture> and impoverished 
crop management and transportation facilities unsupportive of commercial 
berry production. Although limited fertile regions suitable for food 
crops exist in the valleys of Lhasa 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasa>, Shigatse 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigatse>, Gyantse 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyantse>, and the Brahmaputra River 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmaputra_River>, there are no objective 
economic, scientific, or government reports on the commercial production 
of /Lycium/ berry species from these Tibetan regions.


ciao
Hans







martha_davis@highstream.net schrieb:
> What is the exact difference between these two?  Are they 2 differenct species
> of the same genus, or is one selected for fruiting and one not?
>
> Martha
>
>
> Re: sea buckthorn and Wolfberry (Michael Nave)
>
> "By the way, goji berries are far superior to wolf
> berries. They are very similar looking plants and the
> fruits look the same but the goji berry fruit quality
> is far superior."
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list 
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>
> Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
> This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
> Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!
>
> **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
> Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
> No exceptions.  
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used 
> to change other email options):
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
>
> File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
> TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
> Please do not send binary files.
> Use plain text ONLY in emails!
>
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/
>
>