Physalis L.
Unarmed annual or rhizomatous perennial herbs, sometimes subshrubs; hairs variable. Lvs alternate or opposite, simple, entire, toothed or sinuate, petiolate. Fls usually solitary, axillary. Calyx 5-toothed, campanulate, strongly accrescent. Corolla rotate or campanulate, usually yellow with an olive or bluish purple patch at base, 5-lobed or 5-toothed. Stamens 5; filaments attached near apex of corolla tube, exserted; anthers yellow or bluish violet. Stigma filiform or capitate. Fr. a globose berry, invested in the persistent, inflated calyx. Seeds numerous, lenticular, with patterned testa, of moderate size.
Key
c. 100 spp., mainly tropical to warm temperate America, few in Old World tropics and temperate Asia. Naturalised spp. 3.
P. alkekengi L., Chinese lantern, from S.E. Europe to E. Asia, is becoming more commonly cultivated as an ornamental. It was recorded wild from the Auckland area in 1870 but there are no supporting specimens. However, it commonly naturalises in other temperate countries. Unlike the spp. described here it is a perennial with long horizontal rhizomes. The poisonous, bitter-tasting, orange-red berries are enclosed in the large, inflated scarlet calyx, hence the common name.
