SOLANACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



17. Physalis viscosa L. Stellate Ground- 

 Cherry. Yellow-henbane. Fig. 3712. 



Physalis viscosa L. Sp. PI. 183. 1753. 



Physalis pennsylvanica L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1670. 1763. 



Perennial from a slender creeping rootstock; stems 

 slender, creeping, with a dense ashy stellate pubes- 

 cence, or in age rarely glabrate. Leaves elliptic, 

 oval or ovate, obtuse, thinish, entire or undulate, in 

 the typical South American race often cordate at 

 the base, but rarely so in our plant; peduncles i'-i' 

 long; calyx stellate-pubescent, its lobes triangular, 

 generally shorter than the tube ; corolla greenish 

 yellow with a darker center, 8"-io" in diameter ; 

 fruiting calyx io"-is" long, round-ovoid, scarcely 

 sunken at the base; berry orange or yellow. 



On sea beaches, or in sand near the coast, Virginia 

 and North Carolina to Florida. Eastern South America. 



Physalis Alkekengi L., Strawberry tomato or Winter cherry, is a native of Europe and Asia, 

 often cultivated for its fruit and sometimes escapes from cultivation. The flowers are whitish, 

 the limb distinctly 5-lobed ; leaves broadly deltoid, acute at both ends, repand or angulately 

 toothed. 



3. QUINCULA Raf. Atl. Journ. 145. 1832. 



A low and diffuse somewhat scurfy herb, with a stout perennial root. Leaves from sinuate 

 to pinnatifid, somewhat fleshy. Peduncles most commonly in pairs from the axils of the 

 leaves, sometimes solitary, or in fascicles of 3-5. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, in fruit 

 inflated, sharply 5-angular and reticulate, enclosing the fruit, the lobes connivent. Corolla 

 flat-rotate, pentagonal in outline, veiny, violet or purplish. Anthers opening by a longi- 

 tudinal slit. Seeds comparatively few, kidney-shaped, somewhat flattened, with thick margins, 

 rugose-tuberculate. [Name unexplained.] 



A monotypic genus of central North America. 



i. Quincula lobata (Torr.) Raf. Purple- 

 flowered Ground-Cherry. Fig. 3713. 



Physalis lobata Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2: 226. 1827. 

 Quincula lobata Raf. Atl. Journ. 145. 1832. 



Perennial, low, spreading or prostrate, more or 

 less scurfy-puberulent ; stem obtusely angled and 

 striate, much branched. Leaves oblanceolate or 

 spatulate to oblong, sinuately toothed, or pinnatifid 

 with rounded lobes, or rarely subentire, cuneate at 

 the base, thickish and veiny, tapering into margined 

 petioles ; peduncles i'-2' long, in fruit reflexed ; calyx- 

 lobes triangular, acute, shorter than the tube ; corolla 

 purplish, io"-is" in diameter; anthers yellow, tinged 

 with purple; fruiting calyx about as wide as long, 

 sharply 5-angled, sunken at the base. 



On high plains, Kansas to California, Texas, New 

 Mexico and Mexico. May-Sept. 



4. LEUCOPHYSALIS Rydberg, Mem. Torr. Club 4: 365. 1896. 



A tall erect viscid and villous annual, with entire leaves, the blade decurrent on the 

 petiole. Peduncles generally in fascicles of 2-4 in the axils. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, at 

 first a little inflated, but soon filled by and closely fitted to the berry, thin, neither angled 

 nor ribbed, faintly veiny, open at the mouth, the lobes exceeding the fruit. Corolla rotate, 

 white, sometimes tinged with purple and generally creamy or yellow in the center, the limb 

 plicate. Stamens inserted near the base of the corolla; filaments long and slender; anthers 

 oblong, opening by a longitudinal slit. Style and stigmas as in Physalis. Seeds kidney- 

 shaped, flattened, punctate. [Greek, white Physalis.] 



A monotypic genus of northern North America. 



