Physalis longifolia Nutt.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Solanaceae

• Scientific Name

  Physalis longifolia Nutt.

• Description

  Species Description - Erect, rhizomatous perennial 4–8 dm, usually divergently branched, the younger parts glabrous to densely puberulent with appressed or ascending hairs rarely over 0.5 mm; lvs 4–10 cm, glabrous or very sparsely and minutely puberulent, the hairs of the lower surface restricted to the veins; pedicels 1–2 cm at anthesis, not much elongating in fr; cal minutely pubescent in 10 strips along the nerves, the hairs appressed, rarely 0.5 mm; cal-lobes triangular or ovate, 3–4 mm, densely ciliate; cor 11–17 mm, yellow, dark-blotched within; anthers 3–4 mm; filaments dilated; fruiting cal ovoid or short-cylindric, acuminate, 3–4 cm, scarcely retuse at base; 2n=24. Fields, open woods, and prairies; Vt. and Ont. to Mont., s. to Va., Tenn., La., and Ariz. July–Aug. Plants of our range are mostly var. subglabrata (Mack. & Bush) Cronquist, with rather thin, ± ovate, sinuate-toothed lvs abruptly narrowed to the long petiole. (P. subglabrata; P. macrophysa) The more western var. longifolia, with firmer, narrower (lanceolate to lance-elliptic or narrowly rhombic), mostly entire lvs more tapering to the often shorter petiole, is occasionally intr. in our range. (P. virginiana var. sonorae)

• Common Names

  longleaf ground-cherry