432 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



in 1732. When it first appeared in owr vegetable gardens is not recorded. Its synonymy 

 seems to be as below: 



Halicacabum sive Solanum Indicutn. Cam. Hort. 70. 1588. cum. ic. 



Solanum vesicarium Indicum. Baiih. Phytopin. 297. 1596; Pin. 166. 1623; Ray Hist. 

 681. 1686. 



Halicacabum sen Solanum Indicum. Camer. Hortus. Eystet. 1613. cum. ic. 



Solanum sive Halicabum Indicum. Bauh. J. 3:609. 1651. cum. ic. 



Alkekengi Indicum majus. Toum. Inst. 151. 1719. 



Pops. Hughes Bar6. i6i. 1750. 



Physalis angulata Linn. Gray Syn. Fl. 2: pt. I, 234. 



P. lanceolata Michx. strawberry tomato. 



Western North America. This species was among the strawberry tomatoes grown at 

 the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in 1886 and occurred in two varieties; 

 the ordinary sort and another with broader leaves and more robust growth. Its habitat 

 is given by Gray as from Lake Winnipeg to Florida and Texas, Colorado, Utah and New 

 Mexico. 



P. obscura Michx. ground cherry. 



Eastern United States. It produces an edible ground cherry.' 



P. peruviana Linn, alkekengi. Barbados gooseberry, cherry tomato, ground 



CHERRY. winter CHERRY. 



Tropics. This species is sometimes grown in gardens for its fruit. It is a hardy, 

 annual plant, which bears a roundish fruit half an inch in diameter, yellow, semitransparent 

 at maturity and enclosed in an inflated, membranaceous calyx. The fruit has a juicy 

 pulp and, when first tasted, a pleasant, strawberry-like flavor, but the after taste is not so 

 agreeable. This South American species seems to have become fairly well distributed 

 through cultivation. Birdwood '^ records it as cultivated widely in India and gives native 

 names in the various dialects, and Speede ' mentions it also. In France, it is classed among 

 garden vegetables by Vilmorin.* Descourtilz gives a Carib name, sousourouscurou. 

 Drvunmond,^ who introduced the plant into Australia, after ten years, reports it as com- 

 pletely naturalized in. his region. This species differs but slightly from P. pubescens.* 

 Gray,' 1878, says it was introduced into cultivation several years ago but has now mainly 

 disappeared. 



P. philadelphica Lam. purple ground cherry, purple strawberry tomato, purple 

 winter cherry. 

 North America. The fruit is edible.* Although the habitat of this species is given 



NuttaU, T. Gen. No. Amer. Pis. 1:130. 1818. 

 Birdwood Veg. Prod. Bomb. 173. 1865. 



Speede Ind. Handb. Card. 233. 1842. 



Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 4. 1883. 



' Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bol. 2:347. 1840. 



Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 4. 1883. 

 'Gray, A. SynXtpt. Fl. 2: Pt. i. 233. 1878. 

 Nuttall, T. Gen. No. Amer Pis. i:iiO. 1818. 



