Calliphysalis is a genus of perennial plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae.[1] It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Calliphysalis carpenteri, commonly known as Carpenter's groundcherry. Calliphysalis carpenteri is native to sandy soils on the coastal plain regions of south-eastern North America from northern Florida to Louisiana and Arkansas,[2][3] it was first described from specimens collected in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.[4] Its species name honors the botanical contributions of early Louisiana naturalist William Marbury Carpenter (1811-1848).[1][4]

Carpenter's groundcherry
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Calliphysalis
Whitson
Species:
C. carpenteri
Binomial name
Calliphysalis carpenteri
Synonyms
  • Physalis carpenteri Riddell

Taxonomy

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Prior to 2012, this species was known as Physalis carpenteri. At that time it was placed in a new, monotypic genus, Calliphysalis, based on chromosomal, molecular, morphological, and phylogenetic data that demonstrated its uniqueness.[5]

Among species in Physalis and related genera, Carpenter's groundcherry is believed to be most closely related to Alkekengi officinarum (formerly Physalis alkekengi).[6]

Uses

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The Plants for a Future project notes that Calliphysalis carpenteri belongs to a genus which includes members with poisonous leaves and stems, although the fully ripe fruits are usually edible, and give it an Edibility Rating of 2 out of 5, with no medicinal value or other uses noted.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Per Axel Rydberg. 1896. The North American species of Physalis and related genera. Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 4: 297-374; 330, citing Riddell, John L. 1853. New and hitherto unpublished plants of the Southwest, mostly indigenous in Louisiana. New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal 9:609-618.
  2. ^ a b PFAF Plant Database: Physalis carpenteri Carpenter's groundcherry, https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Physalis+carpenteri, last accessed 2 Dec 2018.
  3. ^ USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: Plants Profile for Physalis carpenteri (Carpenter's groundcherry), https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=PHCA16, last accessed 2 Dec 2018.
  4. ^ a b Reginald S. Cocks: "William M. Carpenter, A Pioneer Scientist of Louisiana" in Tulane Graduates' Magazine, Vol. 3, January 1914, pp. 122-127, reprinted in February 1914 by the author as a booklet published by Tulane University Press under the same title, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044106372303;view=1up;seq=12, last accessed 1 Dec 2018.
  5. ^ Maggie Whitson. 2012. Calliphysalis (Solanaceae): A New Genus from the Southeastern USA. Rhodora 114(958):133-147, https://doi.org/10.3119/11-10, abstract and partial text at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23314732?seq=1/analyze; "The story of Physalis carpenteri begins with John Leonard Riddell, a medical doctor, inventor, and botanist best known for work in the western US and Ohio. Spending the latter part of his career in New Orleans, he began work on a flora of Louisiana. His colleague, William Marbury Carpenter, collected many specimens used for the project. Both men were professors at what would become Tulane University."
  6. ^ Whitson, Maggie; Manos, Paul S. (2005). "Untangling Physalis (Solanaceae) from the Physaloids: A Two-Gene Phylogeny of the Physalinae". Systematic Botany. 30 (1): 216–230. doi:10.1600/0363644053661841. ISSN 0363-6445. JSTOR 25064051. S2CID 86411770.