Physalis

A lax, branching nightshade from South America grown for tart-sweet golden berries, each wrapped in a papery, lantern-like husk. Despite the name it is unrelated to true gooseberries: the "Cape" is usually traced to its early cultivation at South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, and it is also known as goldenberry, Peruvian groundcherry, and poha. Taller and longer-lived than the ground cherry, it reaches 3.3 to 4.9 feet with velvety heart-shaped leaves and nodding yellow flowers marked with chocolate-brown centers. It is a reliable perennial only where frost is absent and is grown as a summer annual or a greenhouse plant everywhere colder. Only the fully ripe fruit is eaten - the husk, leaves, stems, flowers, and unripe fruit are poisonous - and it has become invasive in Hawaii and on other Pacific islands.

A low, sprawling nightshade grown for the sweet golden berries that ripen inside papery, lantern-like husks and drop to the ground when ready - hence "ground cherry." Soft, slightly hairy stems with heart-shaped toothed leaves carry small yellowish bell-shaped flowers all summer. Grown like a tomato, it is a tender annual in most of the US but can persist as a short-lived perennial where frost is absent.