Botany of Hiosh Tomato 279 



The husk tomato is considered to be Physalis pubescens, 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 183, native in North America and other parts 

 of the world. The cultivated plant is mostly a spreading 

 annual but sometimes grows erect, pubescent, much branch- 

 ing : leaves ovate and mostly acuminate, more or less pubes- 

 cent, oblique or semi-cordate at base, margins obtusely den- 

 tate or angled : flowers single, % in. or less long, yellowish 

 with brown spots inside, the calyx much shorter than the 

 corolla but enlarging in fruit and inclosing the globular yellow 

 berry, which is % in. across. The Cape gooseberry is P. peru- 

 viana, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1670. 1763. It is a taller and later 

 plant, not maturing well in the Northern States; leaves soft- 

 pubescent, broad, not toothed, cordate at base; husk larger 

 and somewhat hairy. Other species of Physalis are cultivated. 



