Flora of North America species comparison

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Physalis heterophylla

clammy ground-cherry, ground cherry
Habit Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes deeply buried, stout, densely villous, hairs simple, jointed, divergent, 1–2 mm, sometimes also with shorter glandular hairs.
Stems

erect to decumbent, branching at most nodes, branches spreading and decumbent, 1.5–10 dm.
Leaves

petiolate;

petiole 1/3–2/3 blade;

blade broadly ovate to suborbiculate, (2–)4–11(–13) × 3–9(–10) cm, base truncate to slightly cordate, margins deeply and irregularly dentate to ± entire.
Pedicels

9–15(–20) mm, 20–30 mm in fruit.
Flowers

calyx 6–12 mm, lobes 3–6 mm;

corolla yellow with 5 large purple-brown smudges, campanulate-rotate, 10–17 mm;

anthers yellow, rarely blue-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 2.5–4.5 mm.
Fruiting calyces

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

= 24.

Physalis heterophylla
Phenology Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Openings in hardwood forests, edges of pine woods, grasslands, fields, roadsides, dis­turbed sites.
Elevation 10–400 m. (0–1300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; WY; ON; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Physalis heterophylla is widespread east of the Rocky Mountains. Herbarium specimens from Manitoba, Oregon, and Utah represent historical collections. Morphological variation has been recognized taxonomically in some manuals, although intergradation occurs among varieties and they often cannot be identified reliably. The cultivated P. peruviana (cape gooseberry) is similar to P. heterophylla except that it is not glandular and has shorter pedicels (6–8 mm in flower, 13–15 mm in fruit). W. F. Hinton (1975b) reported the uncommon occurrence of a population in North Carolina representing natural hybridization between P. heterophylla and P. virginiana.

(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. crassifolia, P. fendleri, P. grisea, P. hederifolia, 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. ambigua, P. heterophylla var. ambigua, P. heterophylla var. clavipes, P. heterophylla var. nyctaginea, P. heterophylla var. villosa, P. nyctaginea, P. sinuata
Name authority Nees: Linnaea 6: 463. (1831)
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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