The flowering shrub Lycium carolinianum provides essential food and habitat for local and migratory wildlife from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Carolinas. As a fruit-bearing native plant that is salt-, drought- and flood-tolerant, L carolinianum is suitable for use in wetland management, coastal restoration, landscape design, and more. For example, studies of Asian species have indicated that Lycium berries possess high antioxidant and polysaccharide concentrations, encouraging further agricultural and medicinal explorations. Despite its diverse potential, limited research has been conducted on L. carolinianum, with no documentation to date of methods for nursery stock establishment. Our research aims to enhance knowledge of L. carolinianum through the following objectives: (1) conduct vegetative propagation trials using hard- and softwood Lycium cuttings from six sites in coastal Louisiana, comparing growth as affected by site, cutting type, collection season, and auxin application; (2) compare average berry mass, seed mass, number of seeds per berry, seed germination rate, and pure live seed values by site, and (3) isolate stylar mRNA from individuals at each site for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, assess self-incompatibility (SI) via S-RNAse gene analysis, and compare SI profiles of Louisiana L. carolinianum to those of populations in Texas and Florida.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results indicate differences by sampling location in greenhouse growth and berry mass. Fall 2017 trials yielded differences in mean stem height (mm) by site (p = 0.0143; Cocodrie 1 (CC1): 1.253±0.033; Fourchon (FOU): 3.878± 0.123; Queen Bess (QB): 0.109±0.006) and average number of leaves (p = 0.043; CC1: 18.5±5.002; FOU: 60.59±12.682; QB: 4.94±1.285). Winter 2018 trials yielded site differences in total leaf production (p = 0.0081; CC1- 6.5±4.50; Cocodrie 2 (CC2)- 0±0; Dulac (DL)- 0±0; FOU- 58.92±21.37; Fourchon Ridge (FR)- 32.58±8.76; QB- 969.92±235.68). Berry mass (g) of fruit collected November 2017 through January 2018 also differed by site (p = 0.0001; CC1- 0.837±0.02; CC2- 0.874±0.03; FOU- 0.752±0.03; QB- 0.564±0.01). Additionally, 32 stylar samples were collected for RNA analysis. Preliminary work suggests Lycium is sensitive to fungal infection and should not be continuously inundated as other wetland trees, like mangroves, are typically propagated. This research can advance the inclusion of L. carolinianum in wildlife management, restoration ecology, horticulture, and pharmacognosy by documenting propagation methods, fruit and seed morphology, and SI mechanisms.