Lycium shawii Roem. & Schult.  

Lycium barbarum Mill. (1768) non L. (1753); Lycium persicum Miers (1845); Lycium arabicum Schweinf. ex Boiss, (1879) nom. illeg.

shrub, 1-3 m tall, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves almost sessile, alternate or in fascicles of 2-10, oblanceolate, linear or elliptic, glabrous or hairy, entire, obtuse or acute, 0.5 - 2 x 0.3 - 0.8 cm. Flowers solitary, or in pairs, axillary; pedicel 0.3-1 cm long, hairy or glabrous. Calyx glabrous or hairy outside, tubular, c. 5 x 1.5 mm, 5-toothed, teeth triangular, 0.5 mm long, regular, in fruit slightly enlarging and splitting irregularly into 3 teeth. Corolla bluish, tubular, tube 1.2 - 1.5 cm long. Stamens 5, inserted a little above the middle of the corolla tube, includen anthers oblong or globular, c. 1 mm across; filaments filiform, glabrous, _+ 4 - 5 mm long. Ovary ovoid, 1.5 - 1 mm, subtended by a disc; style filiform, 1.2-1.4 mm long; stigma capitate, c. 1 mm in diameter. Berries red, edible, pea-sized.

Branches, leaves, pedicels and outer calyx pubescent, densely so on young parts.    var. shawii

Distribution : Arabia, tropical Africa and Egypt.