Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Physalis virginiana Mill.

Family: Solanaceae

lance-leaved ground-cherry, Virginia ground-cherry

Arthur Meeks

Stephen L. Solheim

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Physalis: from the Greek physalis, "a bladder," because of the inflated calyx
Plants: erect, perennial, 8"-36" tall forb; upper part of the stems with dense, soft hairs; colony-forming rhizomes
Leaves: stalked, mostly broadly-ovate with a sharp point and rounded to heart-shaped base, usually 1 1/4"- 3" long, entire or with irregular wavy teeth, hairy on both sides
Flowers: yellow with dark spots in the center, 5-parted, 1/2"-3/4" wide, shallow funnel-shaped, stalked; solitary from the leaf axils; blooms June-Sept.
Fruits: green berry, the covering much larger than the berry, the tip mostly closed, base notched, and hairy all over
Habitat: dry; woods, prairies; in sandy soil

Mesic to dry prairies and other ecologically open habitats, including jack pine-black oak barrens, steep hillsides, open ridgetops, and sandstone outcrops, also inner beaches and dunes along Lake Michigan; often weedy (but less so than P. longifolia) in abandoned sandy fields and along sandy or gravelly roadsides and railroads.