Erect or spreading, rhizomatous perennial 2-9 dm; pubescence of the upper parts, pedicels, and cal distinctly villous, of slender, spreading hairs; lvs chiefly ovate or rhombic, 3-8 cm, acute, shallowly and irregularly sinuate-dentate or sometimes entire, broadly rounded or subcordate at base, not decurrent, hairy on both sides; pedicels to 1 cm at anthesis, to 3 cm in fr; cal-lobes deltoid or ovate, the margins straight or slightly concave; cor 12-20 mm; filaments dilated at the summit, about as broad as the anthers, these 3-4.5 mm long; fruiting cal ovoid, 3-4 cm, retuse at base; fr green; 2n=24. Dry or sandy soil, upland woods, and prairies, probably our most abundant sp.; Que. and N.S. to Minn., Colo., and Utah, s. to Fla. and Tex. June-Sept. Typical P. heterophylla has the hairs of the stem and lower lf-surface very fine, viscid, and densely crowded, seldom over 0.5 mm, more copious on the lf-veins than across the surface. Plants with sparser, more uniformly distributed pubescence, of jointed hairs 1-2 mm, with a similar range but not extending quite so far n., have been called var. ambigua (A. Gray) Rydb. (P. ambigua; P. nyctaginea), but the difference is only doubtfully significant.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

This species prefers dry, sandy soil and is found on wooded slopes and along roadsides. [Deam mentions the species P. ambigua which is described as having dense, long, flat, jointed hairs on the upper part of the plant.] This species also prefers a dry, sandy soil and is found in cultivated and fallow fields, along roadsides and railroads, and in open woods. It usually has not been separated from the preceding species [Physalis heterophylla].

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 3

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A