The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

coastal groundcherry

dwarf groundcherry

Habit Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes deeply buried, often also with slender, shallow rhizomes, glabrous except for sparse dendroid-stelliform hairs to 1 mm on leaf margins and calyx. Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes deeply buried, stout, hispid, hairs simple or 2- or 3-branched, divergent and antrorse, jointed, 0.5–2 mm.
Stems

erect to decumbent, branching at most nodes, proximal branches spreading and decumbent, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) dm.

erect to decumbent, branching at most nodes or infrequently and only at distal nodes, branches ascending, 1.5–4 dm.

Leaves

sessile;

blade linear-lanceolate, sometimes folded along midrib, 2.5–9 × 0.2–0.8(–1) cm, base tapering to stem, margins entire.

petiolate;

petiole 1/10–2/5 blade;

blade elliptic-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–8(–10) × 2–4(–5) cm, base rounded to attenuate and narrowing to petiole, margins entire to sinuate, rarely shallowly, irregularly sinuate-dentate.

Pedicels

14–21 mm, 15–35(–42) mm in fruit.

hispid, 8–46 mm, 15–55 mm in fruit.

Flowers

calyx 6–8 mm, lobes (2–)3–4 mm;

corolla yellow with 5 ochre smudges, campanulate-rotate, (8–)11–15 mm;

anthers yellow, not twisted after dehiscence, 2–2.5 mm.

calyx 6–12 mm, lobes 2.5–6 mm;

corolla yellow with pale brown, ochre, or green tinge or smudges, campanulate-rotate, 9–17 mm;

anthers yellow, rarely blue-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 1–3 mm.

Fruiting calyces

orange drying brown, loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, (15–)20–30(–40) × 15–25 mm.

loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, 20–40 × 15–30 mm.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Physalis angustifolia

Physalis pumila

Phenology Flowering year-round in areas without frost.
Habitat Sand, beach dunes, disturbed coastal areas in sand.
Elevation 0 m. (0 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; LA; MS
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
c United States; sc United States
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In Florida, plants occur along the panhandle east to Franklin County. Narrow-leaved plants of Physalis × elliottii var. glabra occurring in peninsular Florida are sometimes mistakenly keyed to P. augustifolia (J. R. Sullivan 1985, 2013).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Varieties hispida and pumila are quite distinctive in the field but are often difficult to distinguish in the herbarium.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Stems erect; plants hispid throughout, hairs simple and 2- or 3-branched.
var. pumila
1. Stems erect to decumbent; plants hispid on pedicels and calyx, hairs simple, rarely with a few branched hairs.
var. hispida
Source FNA vol. 14. FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Physalis Solanaceae > Physalis
Sibling taxa
P. acutifolia, P. angulata, P. arenicola, P. caudella, P. cinerascens, P. cordata, P. crassifolia, P. fendleri, P. grisea, P. hederifolia, P. heterophylla, P. lanceolata, P. longifolia, P. missouriensis, P. mollis, P. neomexicana, P. philadelphica, P. pubescens, P. pumila, P. solanacea, P. virginiana, P. walteri, P. ×elliottii
P. acutifolia, P. angulata, P. angustifolia, P. arenicola, P. caudella, P. cinerascens, P. cordata, P. crassifolia, P. fendleri, P. grisea, P. hederifolia, P. heterophylla, P. lanceolata, P. longifolia, P. missouriensis, P. mollis, P. neomexicana, P. philadelphica, P. pubescens, P. solanacea, P. virginiana, P. walteri, P. ×elliottii
Subordinate taxa
P. pumila var. hispida, P. pumila var. pumila
Name authority Nuttall: J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 7: 113. (1834) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 5: 193. (1836)
Web links