Nicandra physalodes (L.) Gaertn.
Family: Solanaceae
apple-of-Peru
Nicandra physalodes image
Kurt Stüber  
Nicandra physalodes image
Kurt Stüber  
Etymology: Nicandra: after Nicander, poet of Colophon, Asia Minor, who wrote on the subject of plants around 100 BC
Plants: erect, annual, 4"-50" tall, smooth forb
Leaves: long stalked, ovate, roughly-toothed
Flowers: blue, 5-parted, 3/4" wide, bell-shaped, stalked, nodding; solitary from the leaf axils; blooms July-Sept.
Fruits: covered, dry berry
Habitat: roadsides, disturbed areas
Conservation Status: Introduced - adventive
Apple-of-Peru, shoo-fly plant. Native of Peru, occasionally cultivated for its attractive flowers and curious fruits and rarely escaped as a waif near dwellings and in gardens, fields, and other disturbed places. Our half-dozen collections are almost all from 1950 or before, the earliest ones made (without date) in Milwaukee and ca. 1860 in Racine.
Nicandra physalodes image
Kurt Stüber  
Nicandra physalodes image
Christopher Noll  
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Robert W. Freckmann  
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image
Nicandra physalodes image