About Physalis hederifolia A.Gray
Physalis hederifolia, commonly called ivyleaf groundcherry, is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in rocky, dry desert and mountain habitats. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb that grows a hairy, branching stem between 10 and 80 centimeters long. Its gray-green oval leaves are 2 to 4 centimeters long, with smooth or bluntly toothed edges. Bell-shaped flowers just over a centimeter long grow from the plant's leaf axils; these flowers are yellow with five brown smudges in their inner throats. The five-lobed calyx of sepals located at the base of the flower enlarges as the fruit develops, forming an inflated, veined, nearly spherical structure 2 to 3 centimeters long that contains the plant's berry. There are several wild varieties of this species. Among the Zuni people, the fruit of the fendleri variety is boiled in small amounts of water, crushed, and used as a condiment.
