Chinese wolfberry

The Chinese wolfberry is a plant of the nightshade family, which also includes tomato and potato and originates from China. The berries are grown for consumption on plantations along the Yellow River in China under the name ‘goji berry’. There, the fruit has been used for thousands of years in juices, wines, liqueurs and beers and has many medicinal applications. The plant was used as a hedge because of its thorns, and in Belgium it is mainly found along the coast where it overgrows marram grass dunes via root suckers that can quickly spread.