Physalis angustifolia aka Coastal Groundcherry

Physalis angustifolia is also known as coastal groundcherry. It belongs to Solanaceae, the nightshade family. Its native range lies in the southeastern United States. It includes Florida's west coast and reaches west to Louisiana. It grows on beach dunes and in coastal grasslands. It also grows in coastal scrub and on disturbed ground. Kew lists it as a plant of subtropical regions.

This herbaceous perennial has soft stems and can live many years. It forms thick, tuberous roots. It spreads by stolons, stems that grow below ground. These form a loose groundcover, not a dense mat. Its simple leaves grow one at a time, on alternate sides. They are narrow and smooth, often eight times longer than wide. Most leaves exceed 0.23 feet [0.07 metres] in length. This species can cross with other groundcherries. Such crosses can make it hard to tell plants apart.

Single flowers grow where each leaf joins the stem. Each has a yellow corolla, the part formed by petals. It takes the shape of a bell or wheel. Where there is no frost, flowers grow through most months. Each flower has both male and female organs. Insects carry the pollen. The berries are yellow or orange and look like small tomatillos. A thin, papery calyx forms a husk round each fruit. Beach mice and other animals eat this plant. Some threatened and endangered beach mice use it for food.

Plants For A Future says frost can harm this species. It is not clear if it can survive British winters. That source lists moist soil that drains well, with no shade. It says the plant tolerates sand, loam, and clay soils. The soil can range from mildly acid to mildly alkaline. Florida trials support planting it on dunes. Young plants that had taken root survived planting on backdunes. Fertilizer helped plants grow and look better. They still survived without it.

New plants grow from seeds or stem cuttings. Florida growers used mist to root cuttings within two weeks. They used no rooting hormones. They took cuttings out of mist once roots formed. Too much time in mist caused decline and leaf oedema. Seeds sown on top of moist greenhouse growing mix grew under natural daylight. Clean, dry seeds stayed able to sprout for at least five years. You can eat the fruit raw or cooked. Do not eat the calyx; Plants For A Future lists it as toxic. That source lists no known uses as medicine or other uses.