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

thick leaf ground cherry, yellow nightshade groundcherry

New Mexican 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 annual, taprooted, densely glandular-pubescent, hairs simple, mostly 0.5(–1 mm), grayish brown in appearance when dry.
Stems

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

erect, angulate and blue-tinged, at least distally, branching at most nodes, internodes noticeably long, branches spreading, 1–5 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 1/3–1/2 blade;

blade broadly ovate to orbiculate, 2–6 × 1.5–5 cm, base deltate to rounded-attenuate, margins coarsely, irregularly crenate-dentate.

Pedicels

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

stout, 2–5 mm, 5–10(–12) 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 mm, lobes 1–2.5(–3) mm, long-attenuate;

corolla yellow with 5 large, dark purple-blue-black spots, campanulate-rotate, 6–10 mm;

anthers blue or blue-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 1 mm.

Fruiting calyces

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

loosely enclosing berry, sharply 5-angled (ribs often deep purple), nearly spheric, 20–25(–30) × 15–20(–30) mm.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Physalis crassifolia

Physalis neomexicana

Phenology Flowering year-round in areas without frost, mostly Mar–Apr. Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Gravelly or sandy slopes, washes, roadsides, mesas, canyons. Sandy soil, pinyon-juniper associations, disturbed grasslands, roadsides, cultivated fields, gardens.
Elevation 100–1700 m. (300–5600 ft.) 1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 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 FNA
AZ; CO; NM; TX
[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.)

Physalis neomexicana can be distinguished from P. pubescens by its stout pedicels, nearly spheric fruiting calyces, and grayish brown appearance when dry. Some herbarium specimen labels mention that the plants are ill-smelling. M. Martínez (1998) determined the name P. subulata Rydberg to be a synonym of P. patula Miller, which is a Mexican species.

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

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. mollis, 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 P. foetens var. neomexicana, P. subulata var. neomexicana
Name authority Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 40. (1844) Rydberg: Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 4: 325. (1896) — (as neo-mexicana)
Web links