Goji berry
Lycium barbarum
Also called Wolfberry, Goji and Chinese boxthorn
Garden plant · Herbs, veg & fruitIt runs by suckers and it is thorny, so plant it where you can mow round it or keep it in a very large pot. It fruits on the CURRENT year's wood, which is why an unpruned one goes to ten feet of bare whip and no crop.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Easy
- Water
- Every 10 daysWater the ground — water at the base, in the morning, not over the leaves.
- Light
- Full sun
- Feed
- Not needed
- Humidity
- Low
- Hardiness
- Hardy — a very cold winter RHS H6, to -20°C
- Size
- 2.5 m tall · 2.5 m across
- Lifecycle
- Shrub
- Origin
- China
Is it safe for pets and people?
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
The stems are thorny. Neither authority names Lycium — and being in the nightshade family is not a citation, in either direction.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Shoots appearing several feet from the plant, in the lawn and through a neighbouring border. It travels underground; a large pot or a root barrier is the only reliable answer.Suckers everywhere · disorder
- Ten feet of bare whippy growth and almost no berries. It fruits on THIS year's wood, so an unpruned plant puts everything into length — cut it back hard in late winter.No fruit on a big plant · disorder