Plant Name
Scientific Name: Physalis acutifolia
Synonym: Physalis wrightii
Common Names: Sharpleaf Groundcherry, Sharp-leaf Ground Cherry, Wright Groundcherry, Wright's Ground-cherry
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Riparian. This somewhat weedy wildflower grows in disturbed areas, drainage areas, agricultural areas, and along desert streams and rivers.
Flower Color: Bicolored yellow and white
Flowering Season: Summer, Early fall
Height: Up to 3 feet (1 m) tall
Description: The flowers droop down to face the ground and are flat, disk-like, up 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and have 5 lobes, 5 stamens, 5 raised, hairy pads, and a central ring of yellow. The flowers are followed by round, green to yellowish berries that are each enclosed in an inflated, ribbed, pendent, paper lantern-like calyx. The leaves are green, alternate, minutely hairy, deeply and irregularly toothed, and lance-shaped to egg-shaped. The stems are branched, hairy, and green in color.
Special Characteristics
Edible – Like its close relative Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), the fruit is edible either cooked or raw.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae – Potato family
Genus: Physalis L. – groundcherry
Species: Physalis acutifolia (Miers) Sandw. – sharpleaf groundcherry
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