NlCANDRA. 



SOLANACEiE. 



103 



Road -sides, vacant lots, and about gardens ; almost naturalized in the neighborhood of 

 New- York and in some other places. Originally from Peru. July — September. The Indians 

 of Peru are said to have used this plant as a narcotic in several painful affections. 



5. PHYSALIS. Linn.; Endl. gen. 3851. ground cherry. WINTER CHERRY. 



[From the Greek, physa, a bladder; in allusion to the inflated calyx.] 



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent, finally large and enclosing the fruit. Corolla campanulate-rotate ; 

 the limb plaited, somewhat 5-lobed ; the tube very short, usually marked with five concave 

 spots at the base. Stamens 5, connivent : anthers opening longitudinally. Berry 2-celled. 

 — Mostly herbaceous but sometimes shrubby plants, with the leaves alternate or in pairs, 

 and solitary, gemmate, or rarely fascicled lateral flowers. 



1. Physalis viscosa, Linn. Ground Cherry. 



Herbaceous, pubescent and more or less viscid ; stem dichotomously branched, at first 

 erect, then spreading ; leaves solitary or in pairs, varying from roundish-ovate to lanceolate- 

 ovate, cordate or acute at the base, repand-dentate or sometimes nearly entire ; flowers solitary, 

 axillary, pendulous ; calyx cleft to the middle, closed in fruit ; corolla with 5 brownish spots 

 at the base. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 183 ; Ait. in Eaton's man. ed. 7. p. 436 ; Beck, hot. p. 258 ; 

 Darlingt. ft. Cest. p. 138. P. obscura, Michx. Jl. 1. p. 149 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 157 ; Torr. 

 fi. I. p. 233 ; Nees, mon. Phys. in Linncea, 6, p. 457. P. heterophylla, Nees, I. c. P. 

 Pennsylvania, Linn. sp. (ed. 2. app.) p. 1670. 



Root perennial. Stem seldom rising more than a few inches from the ground, but usually 

 spreading in a circular manner. Leaves 2-4 inches long and 2-3 inches wide, acute, 

 acuminate or sometimes obtuse, coarsely toothed or with the margin only waved, often very 

 unequal at the base : petioles 1-2 inches long, often with small leaves in the axils. Flowers 

 on short pedicels, extra-axillary. Calyx campanulate, hairy, 5-angled, veiny, finally large, 

 membranaceous, and loosely enclosing the fruit ; the segments ovate -lanceolate, acute. 

 Corolla about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, dull greenish yellow, with five oblong 

 pale brownish spots in the throat ; the limb obscurely 5-toothed. Filaments flattened : anthers 

 oblong, blue. Berry completely enclosed in the very large inflated and membranaceous calyx, 

 globose, viscid, yellowish or orange when mature, and of an acid taste. 



Fields, borders of woods and hill-sides ; rather common. July - August. All the specimens 

 of Physalis that I have collected in the State, or received from my botanical friends from 

 within our limits, must clearly be referred to one species. I cannot see that P. heterophylla, 

 Nees, differs in any important respects from P. viscosa. 



