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

netted globecherry

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, sparsely pubescent to ± glabrous, hairs simple, antrorse, appressed, to 0.5 mm.
Stems

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

erect, branching from near base and at most nodes, branches spreading, distal internodes congested, 1–18 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 mostly 1/2 as long as blade;

blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, (1–)2–4.5(–7) × 1–3(–4) cm, base unequal, margins entire to irregularly sinuate or with 1+ large teeth.

Pedicels

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

1.5–3 mm, 3–5 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 1.5–2.5 mm, lobes 0.5–1 mm;

corolla deep purple, rarely greenish or yellowish with 5 very large purple spots visible through corolla, urceolate, bulging beyond calyx, 2.5–4.5 mm;

anthers yellow to purple, not twisted after dehiscence, 1 mm;

style sometimes exserted.

Fruiting calyces

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

nearly filled by berry, 5-ribbed, not sharply angled, 8–17 × 6–13 mm.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Physalis crassifolia

Physalis solanacea

Phenology Flowering year-round in areas without frost, mostly Mar–Apr. Flowering (Jun–)Aug–Oct(–Dec).
Habitat Gravelly or sandy slopes, washes, roadsides, mesas, canyons. Grasslands, pinyon-oak-juniper woodlands, disturbed areas, weedy fields, along streams.
Elevation 100–1700 m. [300–5600 ft.] 10–2100 m. [30–6900 ft.]
Distribution
map from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora) [Introduced in Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
[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.)

Congested internodes on the distal portions of plants of Physalis solanacea give the superficial appearance of multiple leaves or flowers at a single node. It is widespread in Mexico except for Baja California (north and south).

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

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. neomexicana, P. philadelphica, P. pubescens, P. pumila, P. virginiana, P. walteri, P. ×elliottii
Synonyms P. crassifolia var. cardiophylla, P. crassifolia var. versicolor, P. versicolor Margaranthus solanaceus
Name authority Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 40. (1844) (Schlechtendal) Axelius: Phytologia 79: 11. (1995) — (as solanaceous)
Source FNA vol. 14. Treatment author: Janet R. Sullivan. FNA vol. 14. Treatment author: Janet R. Sullivan.
Web links