Botany of Huslc Tomato 



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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. 



