Lycium barbarum (scientific name: Lycium chinense? Miller) is a plant of the Lycium genus in the Solanaceae family.

Wolfberry is the collective name for Lycium barbarum species such as commercial wolfberry, plant Ningxia wolfberry, and Chinese wolfberry.

Most of the wolfberries used for daily consumption and medicinal purposes are the fruit "Lycium barbarum" of Ningxia wolfberry, and Ningxia wolfberry is the only variety included in the "2010 Edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia".

Ningxia wolfberry has the largest cultivation area in China and is mainly distributed in northwest China.

Common varieties in other areas are Chinese wolfberry and its variants.

Ningxia Zhongning wolfberry was awarded the National Climate Label in the climate quality category of agricultural products.

If "wolfberry" refers to the commodity "wolfberry", it basically refers to the dry and mature fruits of Ningxia wolfberry; if "wolfberry" refers to wild wolfberry plants in areas other than the northwest, it basically refers to plant wolfberry or northern wolfberry

.

There are many folk names for wolfberry in China, such as goujizi, wolfberry red fruit, beet seed, western wolfberry, dog breast, red and green pepper, wolfberry, wolfberry fruit, ground bone, wolfberry eggplant, red earring, blood wolfberry, wolfberry

Rehmannia glutinosa, wolfberry bean, blood wolfberry, Jin wolfberry.

In Zhongning County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the main wolfberry producing area in Ningxia, farmers are accustomed to calling wolfberry "Ci", which means Tribulus.

This is because wild wolfberry is similar to Tribulus terrestris and is often collected for firewood. Among the people, "Ci" is used as the common name of wolfberry.

In rural areas of Zhongning, the wolfberry garden is called Ci Garden, the wolfberry trees are called Ci trees, and the wolfberry branches are called Ci strips.

Therefore, the rural areas of Zhongning that are rich in wolfberry are also called Cixiang, and the culture rich in Zhongning's local flavor is often given the title of Cixiang, such as Cixiang Opera, Cixiang Ballads, etc.

However, in the field of medicinal materials, wolfberry is wolfberry, and there is no need to call it ciguo or cishi.

During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it is said that one day, a group of merchants from the Western Regions came to the Silk Road. They stayed at an inn in the evening and saw a woman scolding an old man.

The businessman stepped forward and asked, "Why do you beat and scold the old man like this?" The woman said, "What does it have to do with you if I train my grandson?" Everyone who heard this was shocked.

It turned out that the woman was over 200 years old and the old man was already in his nineties.

He was beaten because he refused to abide by the clan's rules and take herbal medicine, which caused him to grow old prematurely and become blind.

The businessman was astonished and quickly asked the female longevity star for the secret of longevity?

Seeing the sincerity of the messenger, the female birthday girl told him that she takes wolfberry all year round.

Later, wolfberry was introduced to the Middle East and the West, where it was hailed as the sacred grass of the East.