PHYSALIS 



PHYSIANTHUS 



2609 



large round, purplish sticky berry, and is sometimes 

 torn open by it. Mex., and intro. northward to the 

 northern states. The form in cult., described here, is 

 probably P. capsicifolia, Dun., now regarded by some 

 as a form of the cosmopolitan P. angidata. The writer 

 prefers, however, to refer the plant to P. ixocarpa, 

 although there is doubt as to the identity of the cult, 

 plant with this species. Although the cult, plant is 

 sometimes sold as P. edulis (erroneously), the frs. are 

 usually too mawkish to be eaten from the hand (at 

 least as grown in the N.). It is a very vigorous and pro- 

 ductive plant and is of some consequence as an orna- 

 mental, but it is too weedy to be of much value. The fr. 

 is larger than in the native P. angulata. The plant 

 figured by Carriere as P. violacea (R. H. 1882:216) is 

 the one here described. In Mex., the frs. are said to be 

 used in the making of chilli sauce and as a dressing for 

 meats, usually under the name of "tomatoes." The 

 Mexican forms are confused. 



BB. Sts. pubescent or hairy. 



pubescens, Linn. STRAWBERRY TOMATO of vegetable- 

 gardens. DWARF CAPE GOOSEBERRY. HUSK TOMATO. 

 GROCXD CHERRY. Fig. 2934. Low annual, trailing flat 

 on the ground, or sometimes ascending to the height of 

 a foot : Ivs. rather thin and nearly smooth, more or less 

 regularly and prominently notched with blunt teeth: fls. 

 small (^s m - r I 688 l n g)> bell-shaped, the limb or border 

 erect and whitish yellow, the throat marked with 5 large 

 brown spots; anthers yellow: husk smooth or nearly so, 

 thin and paper-like, prominently o-angled and some- 

 what larger than the small yellow sweetish and 

 not glutinous fr. X. Y. to the tropics. The plant is 

 very prolific, and the frs. are considerably earlier than 

 in the other species. When ripe the frs. fall, and if the 

 season is ordinarily dry they will often keep in good con- 

 dition on the ground for 3 or 4 weeks. The frs. will keep 

 nearly all winter if put away in the husks in a dry 

 chamber. They are sweet and pleasant, with a little 

 acid, and they are considerably used for preserves, and 

 sometimes for sauce. The plant is worthy a place in 

 even,- home-garden. It is grown more or less by small 

 gardeners near the large cities, and the frs. are often 

 seen in the winter markets. The chief objection to the 

 plant is its prostrate habit of growth, which demands 

 much ground for its cult. In good soil it will spread 4 

 ft. in all directions, if not headed in. The plants are 

 set in rows 3 or 4 ft. apart and 2 or 3 ft. apart in the 

 row. This physalis has been long in cult. It was figured 

 by Dillenius in 1774, in his account of the plants grow- 

 ing in Sherard's garden at Eltham, England. In 1781-6 

 it was figured by Jacquin, and by him called Physalis 

 barbadensis, from the island of Barbados, whence it 

 was supposed to have come into cult. In 1807, Martyn 

 also described it under the name of Barbados winter 

 cherry, or Physalis barbadensis, and says that it is a 

 native of Barbados. None of these authors says 

 anything about its culinary uses. Dunal, in 1852, 

 described it as var. barbadensis of Physalis hirsuta, but 

 later botanists unite Dunal's P. hirsuta with Linnaeus' P. 

 pubescens, of which this common husk tomato is but a 

 cult. form. 



peruviana, Linn. (P. edulis, Sims). CAPE GOOSE- 

 BERRY. Fig. 2935. As compared with P. pubescens, 

 this is a much stronger grower, the plant standing par- 

 tially erect and attaining a height of l>-3 ft.: Ivs. 

 thicker, less regularly toothed, more pointed, heart- 

 shaped at the base, and very pubescent or fuzzy: fls. 

 larger (>-%in. long), open-bell-shaped, the limb or 

 bonier widely spreading and light yellow, the interior 

 of throat blotched and veined with 5 purple spots, the 

 anthers blue-purple: husk thicker and larger than in 

 the last, somewhat hairy, and has a much longer point. 

 Tropics. B.M. 1068. R.H. 1913, p. 85 (as var. edulis). 

 This species is too late for the northern states. The 

 berry is yellow, not glutinous, and much like that of 



P. pubescens in appearance, but it seems to be less sweet 

 than of that species. This plant has been cult, for two 

 centuries, probably. It was described and figured by 

 Morison in 1715 in England. In 1725, Feuillee gave a 

 description of its cult, in Peru, saying that it was then 

 cult, with care and was greatly esteemed as a preserve. 

 The particular form of the species cult, in our gardens 

 is that described and figured by Sims in 1807 as Physalis 

 edulis, the "edible physalis." Sims' account says that 

 "this plant is a native of Peru and Chili, but is cult, at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, in some parts of the E. Indies, 

 and more especially at the English settlement of New 



2935. Physalis peruviana. (Fruits 



S. Wales, at which latter place it is known by the name 

 of Cape gooseberry, and is the chief fr. the colonists at 

 present possess; is eaten raw, or made into pies, puddings 

 or preserves." The plant is rarely sold by American 

 seedsmen. L. H. B. 



PHYSARIA (Greek, a pair of beUows, alluding to the 

 didymous fruit and slender style). Crudferx. Peren- 

 nial herbs, low, canescent: sts. many and spreading: 

 Ivs. mostly entire: fls. yellow; calyx inflated, arched, 

 net- veined; petals spatulate to oblong, entire: fr. 

 strongly didymous with a narrow partition; cells 

 inflated, membranaceous, nerveless, several-seeded. 

 Four species, N. W. Amer. P. didymocdrpa, Gray. 

 Very canescent, about 3 in. high: radical Ivs. petiolate 

 with roundish toothed angled or entire blade or 

 oblanceolate and more or less sinuately toothed below; 

 cauline Ivs. mostly entire, spatulate: racemes dense; 

 fls. variable in size; sepals lanceolate, surpassed by the 

 rather narrow pale yellow petals: fr. strongly didy- 

 mous, rather deeply notched above, entire or more or 

 less cordate at base. This species has been intro. 

 abroad, in botanic gardens. 



PHYSIANTHUS (Greek, bladder flcncer, referring to 

 the base of the corolla-tube). Asdepiadacese. The plants 

 known to gardeners as Physianthus are species of 

 Araujia, Physianthus now being referred to that genus. 

 They are twiners with showy flowers, grown under glass 

 or in the open in summer. 



Including Physianthus and Schubertia (as is done 

 by Bentham & Hooker), Araujia comprises a dozen or 

 more species in the warmer parts of Amer., all with 

 opposite Ivs. and whitish or rosy fls. : corolla-tube short 

 or long, inflated at the base; lobes 5, very wide or nar- 

 row, overlapping toward the right in the bud; crown 

 with 5 scales attached to the middle of the tube or 

 lower, flat and erect or convex and appressed to the 

 staminal tube: seeds long, bearded. Schubertia and 

 Physianthus should perhaps be considered as subgenera, 

 the former containing the hairy plants with somewhat 

 funnel-shaped fls.; the latter nearly glabrous plants 



