Baja desert-thorn
Lycium brevipes Benth.
Lycium brevipes is a shrub in the Solanaceae family, native to northwestern Mexico and found in California's Sonoran Desert and Channel Islands. It is used in southwestern landscaping. The plant reaches up to 4 metres in height, with thorny, tangled branches and small, fleshy leaves. It produces tubular flowers with a funnel-shaped corolla and bright red berries that attract birds.
Description
Lycium brevipes, known as Baja desert-thorn, is a flowering shrub in the nightshade family. It grows in desert and coastal scrub habitats. The shrub has glandular-hairy leaves up to 1.5 cm long and small clusters of tubular flowers. The flowers have a lavender to white corolla with 2 to 6 lobes, and five stamens and a style that extend from the flower. The plant produces bright red berries, approximately 1 cm in diameter, which are consumed by birds. It is a hardy, spreading shrub with thorny branches.
Other common names
Baja desert-thorn
Distribution
California · Mexico Northwest
Synonyms
Lycium berlandieri subvar. richiiLycium berlandieri var. brevipesLycium brevipes var. brevipesLycium brevipes var. hasseiLycium hasseiLycium hasseiLycium richiiLycium richii var. hasseiLycium richii var. richiiLycium carolinianum f. hasseiLycium carolinianum subf. hassei