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PHYSALIS |
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Physalis alkekengi (Chinese Lantern) |
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(Solanaceae) |
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��������� A cosmopolitan genus of around 80 species of occasionally rhizomatous, upright or sprawling annuals and perennials. P. alkekengi is found wild from SE Asia to Japan; native to central and Southern Europe and China. It grows wild along roadsides. It is widely cultivated in warm, temperate and subtropical regions, including North and South America and South Africa. All produce numerous seeds in a globose berry enclosed in an inflated calyx; the fruit is gathered once it has ripened in summer. |
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��������� P. alkekengi is popular as an ornamental for the papery, orange-red calyces surrounding the ripe fruits, and may be grown as an annual. It should not be confused with Solanum capicastrum, which is also called "winter cherry." |
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��������� According to the Greek physician Dioscorides, the fruits of P. alkekengi are a cure for epilepsy, beneficial as a diuretic, and a treatment for jaundice. In Spain, a therapeutic wine made with the fruit was taken to treat excess fluid retention and problems of the bladder and urinary tubules. In European folk medicine the fruits were taken to relieve scarlet fever, and the foliage was used in tonics for anemia and malaria. Fruits, though edible, are inferior to those of P. peruviana (Cape gooseberry), which is grown on a commercial scale. |
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��������� Though commonly eaten as a fruit, winter cherry is also a useful diuretic, and helpful in a variety of urinary and arthritic problems. The fruit is traditionally used within European Herbal Medicine to treat kidney and bladder stones, fluid retention, and gout. It has also been taken to reduce fever. |
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(Physalis alkekengi) |
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(Chinese Lantern, Winter Cherry, Bladder Cherry) |
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��������� Rhizomatous perennial with broadly ovate, pointed leaves up to 3 1/2 in. (9 cm.)long. 5-lobed, white flowers appear in summer, followed by edible, orange to red berries surrounded by a papery calyx. |
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HEIGHT:� 24 inches (60 cm.),��� SPREAD:� Indefinite. |
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PARTS USED:�� Fruits, fruit juice, and leaves. |
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CONSTITUENTS: Flavonoids, plant terols, vitamins A (carotene) and C, and, in the roots, tropane-type alkaloids. |
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PROPAGATION:� By seed sown in spring, or by division in spring. |
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SPACING:����� 12 inches apart. |
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CULTIVATION:� Well-drained soil in sun. |
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HARVEST:����� Fruits are harvested when ripe and used fresh, as juice, or dried. Leaves are picked in summer and used fresh as a poultice. |
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PROPERTIES:�� A bittersweet herb that is diuretic and aperient, lowers fever, and reduces inflammation. |
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CULINARY:���� Fruits may be eaten raw, stewed (with calyx removed), dipped in chocolate, or used as a garnish (with calyx peeled back). |
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MEDICINAL:��� Internally (fruits/juice) for intermittent fevers, urinary disorders, arthritis, rheumatism, and gout. Externally: Leaves formerly used for skin inflammations; in Homeopathy used for arthritic, rheumatic, jaundice, and urinary disorders. |
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WARNING: Foliage and unripefruits may be harmful if eaten. |
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Herb Database |
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Garden Photo's |
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