Lycium oxycarpum fruit colours

Fruits in four colours show part of the production cycle of Lycium oxycarpum. Green fruit are absent, but yellow and orange-red precede the gradual arrival of black when disintegration is imminent.

If birds or animals don’t take the fruit, the seeds may end up germinating where they drop, which is not ideal. Fortunately, these fruits are known bird favourites, so either the birds are overfed or the bushes in this watercourse have overproduced.

When fruiting starts after flowering, the ovary bulge is still inside the calyx. At that stage the brown, angularly wrinkled corolla still lingers upon it as in picture. Later on, the calyx lobes are forced more adjacent, spreading over the shiny body of the fruit.

Fruits and leaves are positioned on rough, knobbly cushions spaced along the upper stems.