Black Lycium barbarum is black fruit Lycium barbarum. The Mongolian name of Lycium ruthenicum is "Jonoying-Halmag" and the Tibetan medicine is "Pangma", which belongs to Lycium genus of Solanaceae. It is a spiny shrub with many branches and hard branches, often zigzag and white. Distributed in China, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Europe and Central Asia.

Spiny shrub, 20-50 (- 150) cm high, with many branches; Branches rise obliquely or lie on the ground, white.

Or gray, hard, often zigzag, with irregular longitudinal stripes, the top of the branchlets tapering into thorns, the internodes shortened, and each node has short thorns, 0.3- 1.5 cm long; The short branches are located on both sides of the spine, and the young branches are not obvious. The old branches are tumor-shaped, with clustered leaves or flowers and leaves at the same time. The old branches are short branches, with tumor-like processes and no leaves. 2-6 leaves are clustered on the short branches, and the single leaves on the young branches are alternate, plump and fleshy, subsessile, banded, banded or oblanceolate, sometimes narrowly lanceolate, rounded at the top, tapering at the base, and sometimes slightly rolled down at both sides. The midvein is inconspicuous, 0.5-3cm long and 2-7mm wide. 1-2 peanuts on short branches; Pedicel thin, 0.5- 1 cm long. Calyx is narrow bell-shaped, 4-5 mm long, slightly hemispherical when the fruit expands, surrounded by the middle and lower parts of the fruit, irregularly 2-4-lobed, with membranous lobes and sparse cilia at the edge; Corolla funnel-shaped, light purple, about 1.2 cm long, tube slightly expanded to the eaves, 5-lobed, lobes oblong or oval, about 1/2- 1/3 as long as tube, hairless and inconspicuous; Stamens slightly protrude from corolla and are inserted in the middle of corolla tube. There are sparse hairs on the filaments slightly higher than the base, and there are also sparse hairs on the inner wall of the corolla. The style is almost as long as the stamens. Berries are purple-black, spherical, sometimes slightly concave at the top, 4-9 mm in diameter, and the seeds are kidney-shaped, brown, 1.5 mm long and 2 mm wide. The flowering and fruiting period is May-65438+1October.

Lycium ruthenicum distributed in alpine sand forest, saline-alkali sandy land, rivers and lakes, dry riverbed and desert riparian forest, is a unique desert medicinal plant species in western China. Wild Lycium barbarum has strong adaptability, can tolerate the high temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius, has strong cold resistance, has no freezing injury at -25.6 degrees Celsius, is drought-resistant, and can still grow in the desert. It is a light-loving tree species, which thrives in full light, grows weakly in shade, and has few flowers and fruits. Not strict with soil requirements, salt and alkali tolerance, drought tolerance.

Edible

Lycium ruthenicum

According to media reports, Lycium barbarum is a wild plant growing on Golmud prairie in Qinghai, and it is an important vegetation for windbreak and sand fixation. However, from August, 2065438 to August, 2005, 10, more than 5,000 people have flooded in and plundered more than 3 million mu of grassland. In order to pick this bean-sized purple-black berry, profit-seeking has become the biggest motivation.

According to reports, black wolfberry is called "soft gold". In recent years, the price of its origin has increased nearly 8 times, reaching nearly 500 yuan per kilogram. In Golmud, a place called "Golden Triangle" is the black wolfberry trading market. In a specialty store, the retail price of Lycium barbarum is divided into four grades, the lowest is per kilogram 1200 yuan, and the highest is 4,400 yuan. The reporter searched on a large online shopping platform and found that "wild black wolfberry" dried fruits with a price of two or three thousand yuan a catty abound, and the most expensive "boutique" sold for more than 4,000 yuan a catty.

Lycium barbarum is dark black, and the dried fruit is fragile, containing 5- 12 seeds. There are many large seeds, up to more than 30. Black Lycium barbarum seeds, like red Lycium barbarum seeds, are soaked in water with dark color and low sugar content, and the water is slightly sweet or even not sweet. If the dried fruit is soaked in water with high sweetness and the black wolfberry is treated with rock sugar, the appearance color of this black wolfberry is particularly gorgeous. Nitraria tangutorum is dark red and has no stem. When the fruit is ripe, the stalk will fall off automatically, and it is mononuclear (its biggest feature). It's hard to rub by hand. Nitraria tangutorum is light in water, high in sugar content and sweet in taste.

Wild Lycium barbarum L. is sweet in taste and flat in nature, and rich in protein, fat, sugar, free amino acids, organic acids, minerals, trace elements, alkaloids, vitamins C, B 1, B2, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese, iron, lead, nickel, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, potassium and sodium. The contents of calcium, iron and nicotinic acid in Lycium barbarum are 2.3 times, 4.6 times and 16.7 times higher than those in Lycium barbarum, especially the content of proanthocyanidins is higher than that in blueberry (Lycium barbarum contains 3690 mg/100g; Blueberries contain proanthocyanidins 330 ~ 3380mg/ 100g). This is the natural wild fruit with the highest proanthocyanidins content found so far, and it is also the most effective natural antioxidant. Its efficacy is 20 times that of VC and 50 times that of VE. It is also rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, especially natural anthocyanins with free radical scavenging and antioxidant functions. Its medicinal and health care value is much higher than that of ordinary Lycium barbarum, and it is called "soft gold".

Anthocyanin is a water-soluble pigment and a product of plant metabolism. Under different acidity and metal ions, it will absorb sunlight with different wavelengths, thus making plants appear red, blue, purple or even black.

Lycium ruthenicum

In the normal life metabolism of human body, some oxygen free radicals will be produced in cells. Under the influence of some external factors, such as ultraviolet radiation and smoking, the number of free radicals in the body will increase. Free radicals can attack DNA, protein, fat and so on. Therefore, people think that free radicals in the body are the cause of aging and illness. Those substances that can scavenge free radicals or prevent oxidation reactions are called antioxidants. It is not a substance, but a general term for all kinds of substances with antioxidant capacity. For example, vitamins C, E, carotene, polyphenols and so on are antioxidants.

Anthocyanin is a powerful antioxidant, which can protect the human body from a harmful substance called free radicals. The free radical scavenging ability of anthocyanins is 50 times that of vitamin E and 20 times that of vitamin C. Anthocyanins can be absorbed by human body 100%. After taking it for 20 minutes, it can be detected in blood and maintained in the body for 27 hours. Different from other antioxidants, anthocyanins have the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and directly protect the central nervous system of the brain. Anthocyanins can also enhance blood vessel elasticity, improve circulatory system and skin smoothness, inhibit inflammation and allergy, and improve joint flexibility. [3]

At present, the "efficacy" claimed by Lycium barbarum mostly comes from its rich anthocyanin antioxidant, and there is no direct clinical trial data. Cell experiments and animal experiments can give scientists some research directions, but they cannot be used as evidence of "efficacy". Although antioxidants can prevent or terminate other oxidation reactions, they may also be oxidized to produce harmful products. Another common reason is that an antioxidant shows a "health care function" in a simple system, but it also has other side effects in a complex environment in the body. Positive and negative balance, the result is hard to say.

Antioxidant damage of cells is related to the occurrence of many chronic diseases, such as cancer, aging and cardiovascular diseases. Because fruits and vegetables have a certain effect on reducing the risk of cancer, people naturally think that anthocyanin is not an effective component of cancer. Many people have studied this and published a large number of scientific papers. Generally speaking, anthocyanins have a strong inhibitory effect on cancer cells cultured in vitro. For experimental animals such as mice, anthocyanins also show some resistance to artificially induced tumors. However, whether it is effective for human body is lack of corresponding evidence. Italy has conducted some "case-control" studies, comparing the dietary status of thousands of cancer patients with similar but unaffected "control groups", and found no "effective components" in blue-purple vegetables such as anthocyanins related to cancer.

Medicinal value

According to the records of Uighur medicine, Uighur medicine often uses the fruit and root bark of Lycium barbarum for treatment.

Lycium ruthenicum

Urethral calculus, tinea scabies, gingival bleeding, etc. , is used as a tonic, eyesight, antihypertensive drugs. [4]

Classic works of Tibetan medicine, such as Four Medical Codes and Zhu Jing Materia Medica, record that Lycium barbarum is used to treat heart-heat, heart disease, irregular menstruation, menopause and so on, with remarkable curative effect. Folk medicine is used for nourishing and strengthening and lowering blood pressure. [5]