PHY 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PHY 



293 



3. Physalis Flexuosa, Stem shrubby ; branches flexuose ; 

 flowers clustered. This has the habit and stature of the 

 first species ; flowers in like manner scattered at the axils of 

 the leaves; the calices also grow out and involve the berry; 

 but it differs manifestly in having the flowers smaller, the 

 branches very flexuose, and hence the leaves, disposed as it 

 were in a double row, are inserted into the outer angle of 

 the flexure. Native of the East Indies. Sow the seeds on 

 a moderate hot-bed, and when the plants have four leaves, 

 transplant them on a fresh hot-bed, shading them fill they 

 bave taken new root; then admit fresh air to them every day 

 in warm weather. When they are three or four inches high, 

 take them up Carefully, and plant each in a small pot filled 

 with light loamy earth, placing them in a frame upon an old 

 hot-bed, and shading them until they have taken new root ; 

 then gradually inure them to the open air, into which they 

 may be removed in July ; and being placed in a warm situa- 

 tion, they may remain ther* till the end of September. 

 The first winter, place them in a moderate stove ; but after 

 that, a green-house will afford sufficient protection. 



4. Physalis Arborescens. Stem shrubby; leaves ovate, 

 hairy; flowers solitary; corollas revolute ; berries small, 

 spherical, red, inclosed in an oval dark purple bladder. It 

 flowers in June and July, but does not perfect its berries 

 except in warm seasons. Native of Campeachy. Sow the 

 seeds in the same manner, and treat the plants as directed 

 for the preceding; except that not being so hardy, they 

 must be kept in a moderate stove in winter; but in the 

 middle of summer they should be placed in the open air, in 

 a sheltered situation, for about three months ; for if constantly 

 kept in the stove, they will draw up weak, and not flower. 

 It may also be increased by cuttings, planted in pots during 

 the spring and summer months, and plunged into a gentle 

 hot-bed. 



5. Physalis Curassavica; Curassavian Wititer Cherry. 

 Stem shrubby ; leaves ovate, tomentose ; root perennial, 

 creeping. Native of Curacao in the West Indies. Part the 

 roots of this and the seventh species in the spring : place the 

 plants under a hot-bed frame, or other moderate warmth, in 

 winter; and during the months of July, August, and Sep- 

 tember, in a warm situation in the open air. 



6. Physalis Tomentosa; Downy Winter Cherry. Stem 

 ahrubby, tomentose; leaves elliptic, oblong, tomentose; 

 flowers lateral, aggregate. Native of the Cape. 



7. Physalis Viscosa; Clammy Winter Cherry. Leaves in 

 pairs, repand, blunt, subtomentose. Stem herbaceous, pani- 

 cled at top ; root creeping, sending up a great number of 

 smooth stalks, about a foot high, dividing towards the top 

 into small spreading branches; flowers towards the top axil- 

 lary, on long slender peduncles, of a dirty yellow colour 

 with purple bottoms. They appear in June and July, and 

 are succeeded by viscous berries, of an herbaceous yellow 

 colour, inclosed in a light green swelling bladder. Native of 

 America. See the fifth species. 



8. Physalis Pennsylvania; Pennsylvanian Winter Cherry. 

 Leaves ovate, subrepand, blunt, almost naked; flowers in 

 pairs. Stem herbaceous ; root not creeping. It flowers from 

 July to September. Native of North America. Sow the 

 seeds upon a warm border at the end of March ; when the 

 plants come up, thin them where they are too close, and 

 keep them clean from weeds till autumn, when they should 

 be transplanted to the places where they are to remain, 

 which ought to be in a warm situation, where they will sur- 

 vive the winter in mild seasons. 



9. Physalis Alkekengi ; Common Winter Cherry. Leaves 

 in pairs, entire, acute. Stem herbaceous, somewhat branched 



at bottom. Roots perennial, and creeping to a great distance : 

 they shoot up many stalks in the spring, which are a foot 

 high, or more. Flowers axillary, on slender peduncles, 

 white, appearing in July. Native of the south of Europe, 

 Germany, China, and Cochin-china. The berries of this plant 

 were known to the ancients; they have an acidulous and not 

 unpleasant taste, followed by a slight bitterness, which they 

 are said to derive from the investing calix. Though esteem- 

 ed detergent and aperient, their fruit is chiefly recommended 

 as a diuretic in suppression of urine, and for removing ob- 

 structions arising from gravel or mucus. From six to 

 twelve cherries, or an ounce of the expressed juice, is given 

 as a dose : there seems however to be no danger from a much 

 larger quantity ; for in some parts of Germany the country 

 people eat them by handfuls, and in Spain and Switzerland 

 they frequently supply the place of other eatable fruits. Ray 

 says, that a gouty person prevented the returns of the dis- 

 order by taking eight of these berries at each change of the 

 moon. Instances of their good effects in dropsical and ca'!- 

 culous complaints are on record, but they are very little n- 

 garded. This plant is easily propagated either by seeds or 

 by parting the roots; the latter being the most expeditious 

 method, is generally practised, any time after the stalks de- 

 cay, till they begin to shoot in the spring; it loves a shady 

 situation, and should be confined, otherwise the roots will 

 ramble to a great distance. Its only beauty is in autumn, 

 when the plants are ripe. 



10. Physalis Peruviana; Peruvian Winter Cherry. Pu- 

 bescent: leaves cordate, quite entire. Stem in the stovo 

 perennial, lofty, divaricating, very finely pubescent, and 

 extremely soft, as are also the leaves; flowers solitary, pen- 

 dulous, yellow, with five dusky spots at bottom, visible at 

 both sides, and the throat hirsute. It flowers from April to 

 October. Native of South America. 



11. Physalis Lanceolata. Leaves two together, oval-Ian- 

 ceofete, somewhat entire. Stem herbaceous, dichotomous ; 

 calix villose. Grows in Lower Carolina. 



12. Physalis Philadelphia. Leaves ovate, repand-dentate, 

 glabrous. Stem herbaceous, very branchy ; peduncles soli- 

 tary, much shorter than the petiole; flowers yellow, with 

 brown stripes. Grows in dry places on river sides from New 

 England to Virginia. 



** Annual. 



13. Physalis Angulata: Tooth-leaved Winter Cherry. 

 Very much branched: branches angular, smooth; leaves 

 ovate, toothed. This seldom rises to a foot in height ; 

 flowers small, on short peduncles. Native of both Indies, 

 Cochin-china, and Japan. This, like the other annual sorts, 

 is propagated by seeds sown on a moderate hot-bed, and 

 when the plants come up and are a little advanced, they 

 should be planted on a fresh-hot bed to bring them forward 

 and treated in the same way as Capsicum. When they arc 

 grown strong, and are hardened to bear the open air, they 

 may be transplanted with balls of earth to their roots into a 

 warm border, observing to shade and water them till they 

 have taken root, after which they will require no other care 

 but to keep them clean from weeds. 



14. Physalis Pubescens ; Woolly Winter Cherry. Very 

 much branched : leaves villose-viscid, cordate ; flowers pen- 

 dulous; fruiting calices roundish-globular, angular. This 

 branches out very wide close to the ground, and the branches 

 frequently lie upon it; they are angular, and full of joints, 

 dividing again into smaller branches; flowers produced on 

 the side of the branches, upon short slender nodding pedun- 

 cles ; they are of an herbaceous yellow colour, with dark 

 bottoms, and are succeeded by large swelling bladders, of a 



