Physalis heterophylla Nees 



Solanaceae 



Clammy ground cherry 



A. Description 



1. General description: Herbaceous perennial 1.5-5 dm (6-20 

 in) tall, with a fleshy berry, the nodding fruit on a 

 flowering pedicel usually over 10 mm (.5 in) long. Alternate 

 leaves covered by glandular hairs (from Great Plains Flora 

 Association 1986) . 



2. Technical description: Perennial herb with usually deeply 

 buried caudex; stems usually erect, simple or much 

 branched, 1. 5-5 (9) cm tall. Pubescence of stems, foliage, and 

 inflorescence of varying proportions of short, usually 

 glandular hairs and long multicelled hairs 1-2(3) mm long. 

 Leaves alternate, principal ones chiefly ovate but varying to 

 rhombic, (3)5-10 cm long., 3.5-6 cm wide, margins irregularly 

 sinuate-dentate or entire, rounded or subcordate at base, 

 pubsecent on both sides; petioles 3-6 mm long. Pedicels ca 1 

 cm long at anthesis, to 3 cm long in fruit; calyx at anthesis 

 7-12 mm long, 5-12 mm wide, lobes deltoid or ovate; corolla 

 yellow, sometime tinged with blue or violet, 3-4.5 mm long, 

 filaments thickened, often as wide as anthers, usually 

 clavate. Fruiting calyx ovoid (2.5)3-4 cm long, 204 cm wide, 

 much inflated, evidently retuse at base; berry yellowish, 

 (8)10-12 mm in diameter, seeds yellowish, ovate to 

 transversely elliptic, 2-2.5 mm long, minutely pitted. 



3. Diagnostic characteristics: There is little information 

 on the distribution of all three species of ground cherry in 

 Montana, and their ranges are likely to overlap. The three 

 species are differentiated in the Great Plains Flora (1986) by 

 pubescence characteristics. Physalis heterophylla differs from 

 P. virginiana var. hispida in that it has glandular hairs 

 rather than non-glandular, reflexed hairs. It differs from P. 

 hederifolia in having longer fruiting pedicels that are 10-15 

 mm (.4-. 6 in) long vs. 3-10 mm (.12-. 4 in) long; as well as a 

 typically bigger leaf that is 5-10 cm (.2-. 4 in) long vs. 2-4 

 cm (.8-1.6 in) long. 



B. Present legal or other formal status 

 1. Federal 



A. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none 



B. U.S. Forest Service: none 



C. Bureau of Land Management: none 



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