WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

While most NM groundcherries are perennial, this annual thrives in a good rainy season. Stems reach 2-feet tall with a dense covering of short, long, and glandular hairs. Note the flowers have a dark center, purple stamens and anthers, and a 5-ribbed fruit capsule.

FLOWER: June–October. The 5 fused yellow to greenish-yellow petals have a dark center, hairy edges, and purple anthers. A round, fleshy berry, green maturing orange-yellow, 3/8-inch diameter (10 mm), matures inside an inflated, papery, heart-shaped capsule, 3/4–1 1/4 inches long and wide (20–30 mm). The lantern-like capsule has 5 ribs and is on a stem 3–6 mm long stem.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades oval, 1 1/4–2 1/2-inches long (3–6 cm), tip pointed, margins usually with shallow teeth, sometimes wavy.

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky soils, grasslands, fields, roadsides, disturbed areas; shortgrass prairie, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 5,000–8,500 feet

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: About 10 species of groundcherries in NM including 3 varieties of Ivyleaf with different hair types. Longleaf Groundcherry, P. longifolia, nearly statewide, has a 10-ribbed fruit capsule, flowers with a dark center and blue or yellow anthers, and narrow, unlobed, hairless or minutely hairy leaves. Cutleaf Groundcherry, P. angulata, in central NM, is erect and hairless with sharp-pointed leaf lobes, purple anthers, and a 10-ribbed purple-streaked fruit capsule. Small-flowered Groundcherry, P. cinerascens, in eastern plains and prairies, has oval leaves, is covered with short, dense branched or star-shaped hairs, has yellow anthers and a fruit capsule with 5 ribs.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread except in eastern plains in mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union.