Physalis heterophylla var. heterophylla

Native

Dry. Upland woods, prairies. Full or partial sun.

June to September

Pale yellow with purple to brown centers

8″ to 36″

This is a 8″ to 36″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from a deep, horizontal, tough rhizome. It often forms colonies.

The stems are branched. The upper part of the stem is densely covered with both long, soft, shaggy hairs and sticky, glandular hairs.

The leaves are alternate, thick, soft to the touch, stalked, egg-shaped or diamond-shaped, 1½″ to 4″ long, and 1½″ to 2½″ wide. They are broad and rounded or heart-shaped at the base, and taper to a point at the tip with straight sides along the tip. The margins have a few irregular teeth. The upper and lower surfaces have silky, appressed hairs as well as glandular hairs.

The inflorescence is single flowers nodding at the end of ⅜″ to 3 ⁄5″ long, glandular-hairy stalks (pedicels) rising from the leaf axils.

The flowers are ½″ to ¾″ long and wide. There are 5 pale yellow petals with purple to brown splotches near the center. They are fused into a bell-shaped corolla with 5 shallow lobes.

The fruit is a ½″ spherical, berry, green at first, turning yellow at maturity. It is enclosed in an inflated, papery, heart-shaped, ¾″ long husk. The tip of the husk is mostly closed, and the base has a shallow indentation where it connects to the stem. The husk hangs from a pedicel that has elongated to 1⅛″. The berries are poisonous when green, edible when ripe.

Virginia groundcherry (Physalis virginiana var. virginiana) is a shorter plant, no more than 24″ at maturity. The upper stems are covered with short, stiff hairs that are bent backward, and no glandular hairs. The leaves taper to the base and extend down along the stem somewhat. The fruit is an orange berry. The base of the husk is sunken (this may be difficult to distinguish from the indented base of clammy groundcherry).