Botany didn't cover wolfberry

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner Jun 1, 2006

I have only fond memories of my last semester at the University of Guelph and the joy that my botany professor took in explaining his favourite plants to us.

It was a cultural botany course, so, in addition to the program on structure and biology of plants, we studied the impact that those plants have had on human health, commerce, politics, religion, and history.

I loved the class. The prof loved it even more. I recall with awe his almost giddy exuberance in teaching us about the great medicinal plants of China. He was fascinated by tea ceremonies and by tea itself, even using one of the lab sessions to demonstrate, in detail, how best to brew - and drink! - several varieties. In the unit on ginseng, he taught us how the discovery of a North American species of ginseng drove colonialism and trade in the fledgling Americas - something I never learned about in any other history class. He was a great teacher, with a love of plants, people, and the cultural implications of plants throughout human history, especially in the East.

But he didn't know about the Chinese wolfberry.

The wolfberry, I have since learned, is even more common in China. Whereas ginseng and tea are commodities prized by the rich, and highly valued medicinally in and out of China, the wolfberry is a staple that the Chinese people rarely do without. It is a part of traditional soups and cooked dishes, as well as being eaten raw or dried, and explains why certain regional populations enjoy such long life spans and vitality.

Many varieties are available in China towns worldwide, but few can match the quality of the Chinese Green Label certified (the equivalent of organic certification) Ningxia wolfberry for minerals, vitamin content, or antioxidants.

I wonder what my former botany professor would make of there being three treasured medicinal plants in China, not just the two he knew.