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Black Goji Berry Wild Lycium Ruthenicum Seeds
Big packet of 100+ super rare seeds!
Now this fella is exciting. I have been planting heaps and I suggest everyone with room to do likewise.
It’s gonna be the next big thing in superfoods!
It is currently being grown on a small scale in QLD, but as far as I can tell they are not available to the public yet.(feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I just can’t find any, anywhere?) In theory they should survive anywhere in Australia, if provided with a well draining soil, or in the case of heavy clay soils planted into mounds and kept on the dry side.
Alrighty, what is it and why grow it you ask?
It’s a Goji berry, just like the famous red one, but instead of red, it’s black!(actually super dark purple). So first of all it gets the big tick due to novelty alone. It grows all throughout central Asia from China to Afghanistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, India and up into the Himalayas.
The sheer remoteness of the plant, and local reliance on it has meant it is relatively unknown outside its natural range. Fetches such a good price locally that exporting outside the natural range isn’t cost effective, especially considering the distances and terrain involved.
In its natural environment it is tough, super tough, handling salty saline soils, desert winds, heavy clay, eroded loose sands, years of drought, acid soil, constant grazing by foraging camels and goats, you name it, this fella can live through it and still produce good flushes of fruit from March to October.
The health potential of this plant is really amazing as it contains huge amounts of proanthocyanidin or OPC. Procyanidins OPC is one of the most effective water soluble free radical scavenger and it has an efficacy is 50 times that of Vitamin C and 20 times as effective as Vitamin E. The OPC content of Black Wolfberry is 3690mg/100 g is the highest in the world even exceeding the blueberry 3380mg/100g.
It also contains large amounts of essential fatty acids, (unusual for fruit), carotenoids, vitamin B1, B2, vitamin C, iron, zinc, selenium, polysaccharides, nicotinic acid, ascorbic acid, sitosterol, linoleic acid, zeaxanthine, amino acids and the alkaloid betaine.
Traditionally prescribed for the treatment of diabetes, anemia, vision problems, impotency, heart disease, abnormal menstruation, lung disorders, liver and kidney problems, menopause, strengthening the immune system to prevent cancer and even AIDS.
Even said to cure blindness in camels!
I can’t attest to the validity to any of that, but there are studies going on as we speak into the preventing and slowing the growth of cancer.
The most common way to ingest the fruit is fresh, or dried, or made into a tea.
Just a couple dried fruit added to cold water are able to dye it a vivid purple, and I’m lead to believe that this purple colour is where all the goodies are, like in grapes and blue berries.
If that is the case you would need a hell of a lot of them to dye water this bright!
Lots of regional names, here are a few. Hei guo gou qi, blue demon ji, Siyah goji, Goji Nero, Kaokee, Black fruit wolfberry, Next to Mary, Gouqi, Lycii fructus, Tibetan goji berry, Gouqi jiu, Lycium ruthenicum, Lycium ruthenicum Murr., Lycium ruthenicum Murray.
Super easy to germinate, but do not over water. Trust me!
Wet feet kills them everytime. I am getting 100% strike rate within a couple weeks to a month, but then ~60% die over the next couple months due to damping off(I guess).
I have no knowledge about these other than what is above, so if you are having great success I would love to hear about it.
I get these seeds in trade and know of no commercial producers in Australia, but would love to hear any other info you guys may have.
