ADDISONIA 57 
(Plate 189) 
PHYSALIS FRANCHETII 
Chinese Lantern Plant 
Native of Japan 
Family SOLANACEAE Potato Family 
Physalis Franchetiti Mast. Gard. Chron. III. 16: 434. 1894. 
This large-fruited winter-cherry of Japanese gardens has been 
called merely a form of Physalis Alkekengi, the common winter- 
cherry of Europe, the fruits of which are used in decoration and in 
making preserves. ‘The Japanese plant, however, differs in habit, is 
smooth, and has larger more brilliantly colored fruiting calyces, 
which give the plant its common name of “ Chinese lantern’’ plant. 
It was not found in cultivation in Europe until James H. Veitch 
sent seeds of it to his nursery establishment in England, about 
1893. The plant was exhibited before the Royal Horticultural 
Society in October, 1894, and is now cultivated in gardens generally. 
Related plants are Physalis peruviana and P. pubescens, respectively 
the Cape-gooseberry and the strawberry-tomato of our vegetable 
gardens. In America we have about thirty native species, the 
ground-cherries, with smaller fruits and calyces. The flowers of 
the Chinese lantern plant are not showy, but the fruit and fruiting 
calyces are, and the stems may be cut and hung up for winter 
decorations, the glowing red ‘‘lanterns” being especially attractive 
e children. 
By means of creeping underground stems, which reach out in all 
directions, a considerable space of ground may be covered by a few 
plants, and their cultivation is simply a matter of cleaning, weeding, 
and mulching. Propagation is effected by division, or by seeds, 
which are freely produced. One large group of this Physalis, from 
a specimen of which our illustration was prepared, may be seen in 
flower borders near Conservatory Range No. 1, New York Bo- 
tanical Garden. 
The Chinese lantern plant is a perennial herb, with many short 
fibrous roots from slender stolons or underground creeping stems, 
from which arise simple, glabrous, zigzag stems to a height of two 
feet, bearing at a node one or two leaves and one flower. The 
leaves are glabrous and entire, or shallow-toothed near the apex, 
ovate or deltoid, acuminate at the apex and cuneate at the base; 
they measure from two to three inches across. The flowers are 
