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Solanum physalifolium
hoe nightshade, ground-cherry nightshade 
Blooms: May - October
Habit: herb
Duration: annual
Origin: Introduced from South America
Distribution: Introduced throughout the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere
Habitat: Fields, roadsides and other disturbed sites, usually on moist soil
Species Description:

General: Tap-rooted annual, the branching stem 1.5-6 dm. tall, covered with soft, spreading, sticky, flattened hairs, often glandular.
Leaves: Leaves petiolate, the blade ovate to deltoid, 2-8 cm. long and 1-5.5 cm. wide, nearly entire or with a few blunt teeth, prominently hairy on the mid-vein beneath.
Flowers: Numerous ascending, few-flowered peduncles, 0.5-2.5 cm. long, attached along the stem or opposite the leaves, the pedicels drooping, clustered; calyx 4-6 mm. long, with sticky pubescence, the 5 lobes short, the tube persistent, cupping the fruit; corolla nearly rotate, 5-lobed, white or faintly bluish, 5-10 mm. wide, the lobes reflexed; stamens 5, the anthers conspicuous, yellow; style solitary; ovary superior.
Fruit: Fruit a yellowish or greenish berry, globose, 8 mm. thick.
Full Name with Authors:
Solanum physalifolium Rusby

Synonyms:
Solanum sarachoides auct. non Sendtner

Treated in Flora of the PNW as:
Solanum sarrachoides
Additional Resources:

WTU Herbarium Specimens: View list of Solanum physalifolium specimens in the WTU Herbarium database.

Washington Flora Checklist: Solanum physalifolium treatment.

Oregon Flora Project Atlas: Solanum physalifolium atlas page.

E-Flora BC: Solanum physalifolium atlas page.

CalPhotos: Solanum physalifolium images.

USDA Plants Database: Solanum physalifolium.

Image © 2004, Ben Legler


All photographs of Solanum physalifolium:
(click on a thumbnail to view larger photo)
 
 
 
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Washington Native Plant Society
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