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thick leaf ground cherry, yellow nightshade groundcherry

field 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, often also with shallowly buried, slender rhizomes, densely pubescent, hairs dendroid-stelliform, to 1 mm, obscuring plant surface on younger growth, occasionally also jointed, branched or simple, 2–4 mm, glandular or eglandular.
Stems

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

erect, branching occasionally, branches ascending, 1.5–5 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.

petiolate;

petiole 1/3–4/5 blade;

blade ovate, 2.5–7 × 1.5–6(–7) cm, base truncate, margins coarsely dentate or irregular to ± entire.

Pedicels

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

10–25(–35) mm, 20–40(–52) 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 6–10(–12) mm, lobes 2.5–5.5 mm;

corolla yellow with 5 pale to dark brown smudges or dark purple-black spots, campanulate-rotate, 9.5–15(–17) mm;

anthers yellow, rarely blue- or purple-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 3–4 mm.

Fruiting calyces

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

loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, 25–40(–50) × 15–35 mm.

2n

= 24.

Physalis crassifolia

Physalis mollis

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
sc United States
[WildflowerSearch 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. Plants eglandular; corolla with pale to dark brown smudges.
var. mollis
1. Plants glandular; corolla with deep purple-black spots.
var. variovestita
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. cinerascens, P. cordata, P. crassifolia, P. fendleri, P. grisea, P. hederifolia, P. heterophylla, P. lanceolata, P. longifolia, P. missouriensis, P. neomexicana, P. philadelphica, P. pubescens, P. pumila, P. solanacea, P. virginiana, P. walteri, P. ×elliottii
Subordinate taxa
P. mollis var. mollis, P. mollis var. variovestita
Synonyms P. crassifolia var. cardiophylla, P. crassifolia var. versicolor, P. versicolor P. viscosa subsp. mollis
Name authority Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 40. (1844) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 5: 194. (1836)
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