Clammy ground-cherry

Physalis heterophylla, the clammy ground-cherry, is a perennial herb of the Solanaceae native to most of temperate North America. It produces erect to spreading, much-branched stems 30-90 cm tall from creeping underground rhizomes, the whole plant covered in soft, sticky, glandular hairs that lend a clammy feel and faint odour. The alternate leaves are ovate to rhombic, 4-10 cm long, with coarsely and unevenly toothed to sinuate-lobed margins, often with a slightly cordate base, and are softly pubescent on both surfaces. Solitary, drooping, bell-shaped flowers about 15-20 mm across are borne on short axillary pedicels; the corolla is dull greenish-yellow with five purplish-brown spots in the throat. After flowering, the calyx enlarges to form the characteristic papery, ten-ribbed, inflated husk 2-3 cm long that encloses a single yellow, sticky-sweet berry about 1.5 cm in diameter. Flowering occurs in summer. It grows on dry open woods, sandy clearings, roadsides, and disturbed fields.