Tomatillo, Mexican ground-cherry or husk-tomato

Herbs annual, taprooted, gla­brous or sparsely hairy, hairs simple, appressed, mostly 0.5 mm. Stems erect, branching mostly at distal nodes, branches spreading, sometimes streaked with purple, 1.5–10 dm. Leaves petiolate; petiole 1/2 to as long as blade; blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2–7 × 2–4 cm, base rounded to attenuate, margins dentate to entire. Pedicels 3–6 mm, 3–8(–11) mm in fruit. Flowers: calyx 5–7(–10) mm, lobes 2–4 mm; corolla yellow with 5 blue-tinged spots or smudges, campanulate-rotate, 7–15 mm; anthers blue, strongly twisted after dehiscence, 3 mm. Fruiting calyces filled, or burst, by berry, 10-ribbed, 20–30 × 20–30 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering year-round in areas without frost. Dis­turbed sites, fence rows, edges of cultivated fields, road­sides; 0–200 m; introduced; B.C., Sask.; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Ill., Md., Mass., Minn., Mo., N.Mex., Oreg., Pa., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va.; Mexico; introduced also in Australia.

Physalis philadelphica is native to Mexico and, pos­sibly, the southwestern United States; it is cultivated for its fruits, which are used in Mexican-style salsa. It frequently escapes cultivation and can become estab­lished in disturbed habitats. Considerable morpholog­ical diversity has been documented in this species (M. Y. Menzel 1951; W. D. Hudson 1986); the measurements given here reflect only wild-growing populations in the flora area. The mature berry is pale green to purplish or purple-streaked. Seeds can remain viable in the soil for several years.

SELECTED REFERENCE Hudson, W. D. 1986. Relationships of domesticated and wild Physalis philadelphica. In: W. G. D’Arcy, ed. 1986. Solanaceae: Biology and Systematics. New York. Pp. 416–432.