What are Goji Berries and are they the same as Goji Berries?

There is a wonderful little red berry that grows all over the world, and people in different places call it by different names. Many English speakers call it Wolfberry, and today even more English speakers call it Goji Berry. But it’s really the same.

As we all know, science assigns two Latin names to each botanical organism, a genus and a species. Two plants that are even slightly different from each other have different species names. Therefore, if two plants have the same genus and species name, they are the same plant. People may call them by different names, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are actually the same thing.

The Goji berry/Wolfberry plant, whose genus is Lycium, has two closely related species. One species is known as Barbarum and the other is Chinensis. Both species grow in many places on earth.

Since people in different countries tend to speak different languages, it is not surprising that the Chinese and Tibetans do not call these berries goji berries. China has many dialects. The plant is frequently called gǒuqǐ and the berries are called gǒuqǐzi (zi means “berry”). “Goji” is a simplified pronunciation of gǒuqǐ.

A similar word can be found in other languages. For example, in Korea the berry is called gugija and in Thailand it is known as găo gè. Tibetan has many names for the berries, including qouki, qou ki ji, quak qou, kew ji, and kew ki. In Japanese the plant is called kuko and the fruit is known as kuko no mi or kuko no kajitsu.

In about 1973, the word “Goji” first came into use in English so that English speakers could have a word for this berry that was similar to these Asian words. Since then, the word “Goji” has been exploited by many merchants as the berries have appeared in more and more health food stores in the US The new word “Goji” is now used quite frequently.

It is not very clear where the word “wolfberry” originated. One theory is that it comes from the toponym “Lycia”, the old name for Anatolia, in Turkey, and “Lycia” can be heard in the name Lycium Barbarum. “Barbarum” means that the goji berry plant may have originally come from somewhere else, like China.

But this doesn’t explain why it has the word “wolf”. Therefore, another possibility is that Lycium Barbarum comes from the Greek word “Lycos”, or Wolf. Wolves eat berries and other fruits to get the fiber they need in their diets. They also eat tomatoes, whose Latin name means “wolf peach” (Solanum lycopersicum). The word “lycos”, or wolf, can be seen in Latin.

The genus Tomato (Solanum) contains another species, lycocarpum, which translates to Wolf Apple. This medium-sized yellow tomato is not familiar to many of us because it grows in South America. South American wolves eat them! It is not the same plant as the tomato we are used to in North America. What is my point? I get to that…

Goji berries and goji berries belong to the nightshade family (Solanaceae), just like tomatoes! Nightshades are an important source of food and spices. Nightshade species include potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, deadly nightshades (belladonna), datura (jimson weed), tobacco, mandrake, wolfberry, and many more.

Many of the species in this important food family are used by native peoples around the world in the manufacture of herbal medicines. Some of them have psychoactive properties. Goji berries are legendary as a medicinal plant and have been used as such for many centuries in many countries.

Goji berries and goji berries go by many other names, including boxwood, Duke of Argyll tea tree, marriage vine, bocksdorn, cabronera, Chinese goji berry, and red medlar.

The point here is that Lycium Barbarum and Lycium Chinensis are two completely different species, two completely different plants. Many people proclaim different names for them. They claim, for example, that “Tibetan Lycium Eleagnus Barbarum” is the TRUE Himalayan Gogi Berry, even though it doesn’t actually exist as a species.

There is no doubt that these two species have different medicinal and nutritional properties, BECAUSE they are different species. In fact, it is not just that the different species are different from each other, it is also true that all the many VARIETIES of any one species are somewhat different chemically and therefore nutritionally.

In some mountainous areas of Tibet and northern China there is what is commonly known as the “Goji Belt”, a fertile high altitude region where Goji plants are cultivated and grow wild. The “highest quality” Goji Berries are produced in the best location and climate, which just so happens to be this Goji Belt. This is due to the purity of the water and the mineral-rich soil that descends from the high mountains.

The political struggle that exists between Tibet and China is well known. There are also Tibetan/Chinese political conflicts over what defines a Goji berry. From a Western perspective, this is just confusing.

Furthermore, the name Tibet carries an unmistakable mystique. Therefore, it is easy for Western marketers to capitalize on it, claiming the superiority of TIBETAN Goji berries over all others. But, as we have shown, from a scientific perspective, “Tibetan” Goji berries do not exist.

Tibet, a country more vertical than horizontal, mostly dry, infertile and arid, with few roads between the highest mountains in the world, is not famous for agriculture. It is next to China. Political boundaries don’t really matter to the land or the Goji plants; instead, as mentioned, soil and climate are the important factors when growing Chinese goji berries and goji berries.

The highest quality berries have the highest levels of glyconutrients and are grown in the Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces of China, right in the Goji Belt. These areas have exceptional growing seasons, unusually alkaline soil, adequate rainfall, and extreme temperature fluctuations from 102 to -16 degrees F.

The Goji belt produces four grades of Goji berries: super, king, special, and grade A. The largest berries are “super”, the second largest are “king”, etc. Vendors may advertise their berries as the largest, but they are still all the same berry, Lycium Barbarum. They are that unless of course they are Lycium Chinensis.

Wolfberries, Gojis, they are wonderful. It’s easy for politics and vendors to confuse and fume around a bushel of Goji berries or Goji juice. However, nothing tarnishes the central fact that this unique little berry is the world’s greatest nutritional powerhouse!