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smallflower groundcherry

Habit Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes deeply buried, stout, sparsely to ± densely pubescent, hairs dendroid-stelliform, to 1 mm.
Stems

erect to decumbent, branching at most nodes, proximal branches spreading and decumbent, 0.5–5 dm.

Leaves

sessile or petiolate;

petiole 1/5 to as long as blade;

blade orbiculate to broadly ovate or elliptic to spatulate, 1.5–8(–9) × 1–6(–8) cm, base truncate to attenuate, margins coarsely dentate, sinuate, or entire.

Pedicels

10–33 mm, 15–60 mm in fruit.

Flowers

calyx (3.5–)5–9 mm, lobes 1.5–4 mm;

corolla yellow with 5 dark purple-black spots, campanulate-rotate, (8–)10–16 mm;

anthers yellow, rarely purple-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 2–5 mm.

Fruiting calyces

loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, 15–35(–45) × 10–35 mm.

Physalis cinerascens

Distribution
from USDA
c United States; sc United States; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Leaf blades orbiculate to broadly ovate, 1–6(–8) cm wide, base truncate to slightly attenuate, margins dentate, sinuate, or entire; corolla limbs reflexed when fully open.
var. cinerascens
1. Leaf blades elliptic to spatulate, 1–4 cm wide, base attenuate, margins entire; corolla limbs not reflexed when fully open.
var. spathulifolia
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Physalis
Sibling taxa
P. acutifolia, P. angulata, P. angustifolia, P. arenicola, P. caudella, 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
Subordinate taxa
P. cinerascens var. cinerascens, P. cinerascens var. spathulifolia
Synonyms P. pensylvanica var. cinerascens, P. viscosa var. cinerascens
Name authority (Dunal) Hitchcock: Key Spring Fl. Manhattan, 32. (1894)
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