Flora of North America species comparison

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Physalis crassifolia

thick leaf ground cherry, yellow nightshade groundcherry
Habit Herbs perennial, becoming suffrutescent, rhizomatous, rhizomes often just below soil surface, vertical, stout, puberulent, hairs divergent, to 0.5 mm, some glandular, appearing ± glabrous without magnification.
Stems

erect, branching from near base and at most nodes, branches widely spreading, distinctly zigzag, slender, 1–4(–10) dm.
Leaves

petiolate;

petiole mostly as long as blade;

blade broadly ovate to deltate, 0.8–3.3(–4.5) × 0.8–3.3(–4.5) cm, base cordate, sometimes slightly unequal, margins entire to unevenly coarsely dentate, sometimes thick and slightly succulent.
Pedicels

8–24(–33) mm, (11–)14–30(–35) mm in fruit.
Flowers

calyx (3–)4–7(–8) mm, lobes 1–3 mm;

corolla pale yellow with yellow or greenish-brown smudges or tinge, campanulate-rotate, 8–14 mm;

anthers yellow, not twisted after dehiscence, 1.5–3 mm.
Fruiting calyces

loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, 14–30(–40) × (10–)15–20(–25) mm.
2n

= 24.

Physalis crassifolia
Phenology Flowering year-round in areas without frost, mostly Mar–Apr.
Habitat Gravelly or sandy slopes, washes, roadsides, mesas, canyons.
Elevation 100–1700 m. (300–5600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora) [Introduced in Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In Physalis crassifolia, the corolla limb is widely flaring and reflexed when the flower is fully open, and the flowers are more nodding than fully pendent. Some herbarium specimen labels indicate that plants flower the first year. Physalis greenei Vasey & Rose, not validly published, has been misapplied to some representatives of P. crassifolia. Physalis crassifolia is widespread in Arizona, but it is restricted in California to south-southeastern counties as far north as Inyo, in Nevada to Clark and Lincoln counties, and in Utah to Washington County.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Physalis
Sibling taxa
P. acutifolia, P. angulata, P. angustifolia, P. arenicola, P. caudella, P. cinerascens, P. cordata, 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
Synonyms P. crassifolia var. cardiophylla, P. crassifolia var. versicolor, P. versicolor
Name authority Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 40. (1844)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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