Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, rhizomes stout, sparsely pubes­cent, hairs simple, antrorse, to 0.5 mm, or simple, jointed, divergent, 1–1.5 mm. Stems decumbent or weakly ascend­ing, infrequently branch­ing, branches spreading and decum­bent or parallel to ground, 2–4 dm. Leaves petiolate; petiole 1/25–1/3 blade; blade oblanceolate, 4–10 × 2–6 cm, base attenuate, margins entire to slightly sinuate. Pedicels 10–20 mm, 10–30 mm in fruit. Flowers: calyx 6–10 mm, hispid, lobes 2–5 mm; corolla yellow with 5 pale brown smudges, campanulate-rotate, 10–15 mm; anthers yel­low, not twisted after dehiscence, 2.5–3.5 mm. Fruiting calyces loosely enclosing to nearly filled by berry, 10-ribbed, 20–35 × 15–30 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering Apr–Sep. Dry to xeric pine-oak-grass communities of the Sandhills Region; 100–200 m; Ga., N.C., S.C.

Physalis lanceolata occurs as populations of 1 to 20 plants scattered within suitable habit, notably where fire management is practiced. W. F. Hinton (1970, 1976) showed that P. lanceolata is not a hybrid and that the name had been misapplied to plants of the Great Plains.