Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes deeply buried, stout, glabrous or sparsely strigose, hairs simple, antrorse, to 0.5 mm. Stems erect or erect to decumbent, branching fre­quently at distal nodes or several-branched from base, branches spreading or ascend­ing, 1–6 dm. Leaves petiolate; petiole 1/5–2/5 blade; blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 2.5–10(–13) × 0.5–6(–7) cm, base truncate to rounded, mar­gins entire to coarsely dentate or irregularly crenate-dentate with only a few teeth. Pedicels 5–18 mm, 12–35 mm in fruit. Flowers: calyx (5–)7–12 mm, sparsely strigose with short, antrorse hairs, lobes 3–6 mm; corolla yellow with 5 purple-brown smudges, campanulate-rotate, 10–20 mm; anthers yellow or blue-tinged, not twisted after dehiscence, 2–4 mm. Fruiting calyces loosely enclosing berry, 10-ribbed, 20–40 × 15–30 mm. 2n = 24.

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora): North America, n Mexico; introduced in Australia.

Lower Taxa

• Physalis longifolia var. longifolia
• Physalis longifolia var. subglabrata (Mackenzie & Bush) Cronquist
• Physalis longifolia var. texana (Rydberg) J. R. Sullivan