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Yellow nightshade groundcherry (Physalis crassifolia versicolor)

Description

Physalis crassifolia�is a species of flowering plant in the�nightshade family�known by the common names�yellow nightshade groundcherry�and�thick-leaf ground-cherry.�It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in rocky, dry desert and mountain habitat. This is a perennial herb producing a ridged, angular, branching stem approaching 80�cm long, taking a clumped, matted, or erect form. The fleshy oval leaves are 1 to 3�cm long and have smooth, wavy, or bluntly toothed edges. The herbage is glandular and coated in short hairs. The yellow flowers growing from the leaf axils are widely bell-shaped, vaguely five-lobed, and around 2�cm wide. The star-shaped calyx of�sepals�at the base of the flower enlarges as the fruit develops, becoming an inflated, angled lanternlike structure about 2�cm long, which contains the�berry.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum:

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Solanales

            • Family: Solanaceae

              • Genus: Physalis