Virginia Ground Cherry

(Physalis virginiana)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

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

 

Virginia Ground Cherry (Physalis virginiana Mill.)

Identification: Flower yellow with purple spots, bell-shaped, and hanging. Flower relatively large (greater than 1 cm. in diameter). Fruit a red berry enclosed in a papery sack. Stem hairy. Leaves hairy, elongate, with coarse teeth along the outer margin. Base of leaf narrow, tapering onto the petiole. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Saskatchewan in the west to New England in the east, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Virginia Ground Cherry is found in woods and woodland clearings.

Flowering period: May to August.

Similar Species: Virginia Ground Cherry is most likely to be confused with Smooth Ground Cherry. However Smooth Ground Cherry lacks hair on its stems and leaves. The flower of Smooth Ground Cherry has a purple throat, but that of Virginia Ground Cherry has purple spots.

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