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SOLANACEAE

NIGHTSHADE FAMILY

Michael Nee

Annual to shrub
Leaves generally simple, generally alternate, generally petioled; stipules 0; blade entire to deeply lobed
Inflorescence various
Flower bisexual; calyx lobes generally 5; corolla ± radial, cylindric to rotate, lobes generally 5; stamens 5, alternate corolla lobes; ovary superior, generally 2-chambered, style 1
Fruit: berry or capsule, 2–5-chambered
Genera in family: 75 genera, 3000 species: worldwide, especially ± tropical; many alien weeds in CA; many cultivated for food, drugs, or ornamental (potato, tomato, peppers, tobacco, petunia); many TOXIC.

PHYSALIS

GROUND-CHERRY

Annual or rhizomed per; hairs sometimes branched
Leaves sometimes ± opposite, entire to pinnately lobed
Inflorescence: flowers 1–few per axil, pedicelled
Flower: calyx 5-lobed, enlarged and persistent in fruit; corolla rotate to widely bell-shaped, yellowish, often dark-spotted inside; stamens 5, filaments inserted on hairy band in corolla tube, anthers free, generally < filaments, opening by slits; style generally straight
Fruit: berry
Seeds many, 2–2.5 mm, ± spheric to reniform
Species in genus: ± 85 species: Am, Eurasia, Australia
Etymology: (Greek: bladder, from calyx in fruit)
Reference: [Sullivan 1985 Syst Bot 10:426–444]
Some species cultivated for edible or ornamental fruit. Unripe fruit often TOXIC. Needs further study in w US.

Introduced

P. pubescens L.

Annual < 8 dm; hairs simple, ± dense, spreading, most with small glands
Leaf 3–9 cm, widely ovate to ± cordate, entire to coarsely toothed
Inflorescence: pedicels 3–12 mm, in fruit ± longer
Flower: calyx 5 mm, in fruit 20–40 mm, sharply 5-angled with ribs between; corolla ± 10 mm wide, widely bell-shaped, yellow, tube with 5 dark spots inside; anthers 1.5–2 mm, blue
Ecology: Waste places, cultivated fields
Elevation: < 1500 m.
Bioregional distribution: s Outer North Coast Ranges, San Joaquin Valley, s East of Sierra Nevada, Desert, expected elsewhere
Distribution outside California: native to c&e US

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bioregional map for PHYSALIS%20pubescens being generated
 


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