Smooth Ground Cherry

(Physalis longifolia)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Paul Jackson, Cedar Creek Natural History Area, LTER, U.S. Dept. Energy and National Science Foundation.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Smooth Ground Cherry (Physalis longifolia Nutt.)

Identification: Flower yellow with a dark center, bell-shaped, and hanging. Flower relatively large (greater than 1 cm. in diameter). Fruit a red-purple berry enclosed in a papery sack. Stem without hairs or only a few scattered ones. Leaves smooth, nearly hairless, extremely variable in shape ranging from elongate with coarse teeth to diamond-shaped. Leave base tapering into petiole. Plant 3 to 5 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout North America.

Habitat: Smooth Ground Cherry is found in fields, empty lots, and roadsides.

Flowering period: July to September.

Similar Species: The combination of the hairless stems and leaves and the base of the leaf tapering onto the petiole should identify this species. Virginia Ground Cherry has similarly shaped leaves, but both stems and leaves are hairy.

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