Lycium californicum

California box-thorn

Family: Solanaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

California box-thorn is a native shrub found in southern Coastal California and the Channel Islands in coastal bluffs and coastal-sage scrub at elevations below 150 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces white flowers with purple tinting or veining, 4 to 6 millimeters long, typically emerging in clusters of 2 to 3. Growing as a prostrate to erect shrub up to 2 meters tall with rigidly spreading branches, it has a distinctive growth habit. Its leaves are small and fleshy, 3 to 10 millimeters long, linear-cylindric to nearly spherical and almost round in cross-section. The fruit is a firm orange to red drupe 3 to 6 millimeters long, containing two enclosed seeds.

Habitat: Coastal bluffs, coastal-sage scrub

Bloom period: (Dec)Mar-Aug

Elevation: < 150 m

Bioregions: s SCo, ChI

California counties: Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.