Physalis philadelphica, Lam.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 196

4. P. philadelphica Lam. , Encycl. Méth. Bot. 2: 101 (1786).

Annual, subglabrous but with a few short hairs on young shoots, leaves and calyces; stem 45-60 cm, erect, branched. Leaves 2-10 x 1-4 cm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, somewhat acuminate, cuneate at base, entire or sinuate to somewhat dentate towards the base; petiole (1—)2—5 cm. Pedicels 5-10 mm. Calyx 4- 10mm; teeth £-£ total length, ovate; fruiting calyx 30-50 mm, green, often purple-veined. Corolla 5-30 mm in diameter, subentire, yellow, with brownish-purple markings at throat. Anthers c. 1-25-4 mm, purple, curved after dehiscence; filaments purple. Berry 13-40(-60) mm, green to purple, filling and sometimes splitting calyx. 2n = 24. Cultivatedfo r its edible fruits in Ukraine, and locally naturalized there and elsewhere. [?Cz Lu Rs (C, W).] (North and South America.) There is still some doubt as to whether the cultivated European and American plants, formerly called P. ixocarpa Brot , ex Hornem., Hort. Hafn., Suppl. 26 (1819), are identical. In addition, Fernandes (loc. cit.) has distinguished the Portuguese plants with small flowers and fruits as P. ixocarpa in contrast to the cultivated plants with large flowers and fruits.

P. angulata L. , Sp. Pl. 183 (1753), from Tropical America, which can be distinguished from 4 by the shorter anthers (1-5- 2 mm) which are not curved after dehiscence, and the smaller, yellowish-green berry 10-12 mm, is also cultivated locally for its edible fruits and is found as an occasional casual.