Lycium andersonii is a perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 of the family Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...

, the Nightshades. It is commonly known by such names as Anderson Thornbush, Anderson Wolfberry, Anderson Lycium, Anderson Desert Thorn, Anderson Boxthorn, and more ambiguously as "tomatillo

Tomatillo

The tomatillo is a plant of the nightshade family, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos are a staple in Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are grown as annuals throughout the Western Hemisphere...

", Desert Tomato (compare bush tomato

Bush tomato

The term bush tomato refers to the fruit or entire plants of certain nightshade species native to the more arid parts of Australia. While they are quite closely related to tomatoes , they might be even closer relatives of the eggplant , which they resemble in many details...

) or "wolf berry". This shrub is part of the western Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

 complex in the Southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 and northwestern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, growing as part of the palo verde

Parkinsonia

Parkinsonia , also Cercidium , is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas...

, Desert Ironwood

Olneya tesota

Olneya tesota is a perennial flowering tree of the Fabaceae family, legumes , which is commonly known as Ironwood or Desert Ironwood. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Olneya...

, Saguaro

Saguaro

The saguaro is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S...

, Ocotillo

Ocotillo

Fouquieria splendens Engelm. is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Common names include ocotillo, desert coral, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus, although it is not a true cactus...

, brittlebush, mesquite

Mesquite

Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...

, etc. plant community.

In riparian washes of the deserts of southwestern Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 and northwestern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, this species can form thickets. One of the main traits of this shrub, is a pattern of rotating spike-branches, that are along main branching stems. The individual spikes get larger and end up as rotating intersecting branches. As a shrub, this design forms a 3D, 3D-form

Three-dimensional space

Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...

 that is thicket

Thicket

A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large amounts of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in the shelter of the maternal plants.In some conditions the...

-like and impenetrable, even by most birds. Though, seeds, or berries are produced, and on some, but not all shrubs, in great profusion, only external branches, on certain shrubs are available. The seeds are in the majority, very bitter.

The form of flower in the Yuma Desert

Yuma Desert

The Yuma Desert is a lower-elevation section of the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and the northwest of Mexico. It is in the Salton basin. The desert contains areas of sparse vegetation and has notable areas of sand dunes. With an average rainfall less than 8 inches each...

region has the pale lavender, or whitish tubular flowers in the 4-petal form, instead of the typical 5-petal form.