Calliphysalis

{{Short description|Species of edible flowering plant}} {{Speciesbox | name = Carpenter's groundcherry | image = Calliphysalis carpenter.jpg | genus = Calliphysalis | parent_authority = Whitson | species = carpenteri | authority = (Riddell) Whitson | synonyms = * ''Physalis carpenteri'' <small>Riddell</small> }}

'''''Calliphysalis''''' is a monotypic genus of perennial plants in the Physaleae tribe of the nightshade family Solanaceae.<ref name="PAR1896">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 New and hitherto unpublished plants of the Southwest, mostly indigenous in Louisiana.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.</ref> '''''Calliphysalis carpenteri''''', known as Carpenter's groundcherry is the only recognized member of the genus. ''C. carpenteri'' is native to sandy soils on the coastal plain regions of south-eastern North America from northern Florida to Louisiana and Arkansas,<ref name="PFAF">{{Cite web |title=Physalis carpenteri Carpenter's groundcherry PFAF Plant Database |url=https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Physalis+carpenteri |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=pfaf.org}}</ref><ref name="USDANRCS">{{Cite web |title=USDA Plants Database |url=https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile?symbol=PHCA16 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=plants.usda.gov}}</ref> it was first described from specimens collected in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.<ref name="RSC1914">{{Cite web |title=William M. Carpenter : a pioneer scientist of Louisiana / by R.S. Cocks |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044106372303;view=1up;seq=12 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=HathiTrust |language=en}}</ref> Its species name honors the botanical contributions of early Louisiana naturalist William Marbury Carpenter (1811-1848).<ref name="PAR1896"/><ref name="RSC1914"/>

==Taxonomy== Prior to 2012, this species was known as ''Physalis carpenteri''. At that time it was placed in a new genus, ''Calliphysalis'', based on chromosomal, molecular, morphological, and phylogenetic data that demonstrated its uniqueness.<ref name="MW2012">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."</ref>

Among the physalid species, Carpenter's groundcherry is believed to be most closely related to ''Alkekengi officinarum'' (formerly ''Physalis alkekengi'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitson |first1=Maggie |last2=Manos |first2=Paul S. |date=2005 |title=Untangling Physalis (Solanaceae) from the Physaloids: A Two-Gene Phylogeny of the Physalinae |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25064051 |journal=Systematic Botany |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=216–230 |doi=10.1600/0363644053661841 |jstor=25064051 |bibcode=2005SysBo..30..216W |s2cid=86411770 |issn=0363-6445|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Uses== The Plants for a Future project notes that ''Calliphysalis carpenteri'' belongs to a genus (referring to Physalis, where it was formerly placed), 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.<ref name="PFAF"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Plants described in 1896 Category:Solanaceae Category:Monotypic Solanaceae genera