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thick leaf ground cherry, yellow nightshade groundcherry

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

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

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

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

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

10–33 mm, 15–60 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.

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, 14–30(–40) × (10–)15–20(–25) mm.

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

2n

= 24.

Physalis crassifolia

Physalis cinerascens

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]
from USDA
c United States; sc United States; Mexico
[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.)

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. FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Physalis 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
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. crassifolia var. cardiophylla, P. crassifolia var. versicolor, P. versicolor P. pensylvanica var. cinerascens, P. viscosa var. cinerascens
Name authority Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 40. (1844) (Dunal) Hitchcock: Key Spring Fl. Manhattan, 32. (1894)
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