Physalis pubescens

Hairy ground-cherry

Family: Solanaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hairy ground-cherry is a naturalized annual found in disturbed places and cultivated fields at elevations below 550 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces yellow flowers with distinctive dark spots inside the bell-shaped corolla, approximately 10 millimeters wide. Growing with spreading stems up to 80 centimeters tall and covered in glandular hairs, it has a delicate and slightly sticky appearance. Its leaves are widely ovate to heart-shaped, 3 to 9 centimeters long, with margins ranging from entire to coarsely toothed. When fruiting, the plant develops a distinctive papery calyx that expands to 20 to 40 millimeters, becoming sharply angled with prominent ribs.

Habitat: Disturbed places, cultivated fields

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: < 550 m

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.