Plant A: the volunteer. It has generated two fruits and Paula wants to eat them. I want to know what this plant is first. Help me not let Paula get sick.Close up of plant A leaf.Close up of Plant A young flower. A more mature flower a few months ago (see below) has more brown/purple on petals but not I think on the anthers?The north central Texas flora keys out to two main groups by hair type. These, on Plant A, appear to be simple, and possibly retrorse (curving down). No hair joints eliminates P. heterophylla.Plant A: the leaf and the two fruits. The fruit calyxes are five angled.I zoomed in on a picture of the previous flower, same plant A. I believe the anthers are yellow. I would like help with that, as it’s been a while since I’ve tried to confirm anthers. Yellow anthers and simple hairs get it to P. longifolia or P. virginiana in the NC TX Flora. The leaves for both species are are ovate to lanceolate, which seems inconsistent with Plant A. Longifolia also is said to often have purple stems. This one has stripes but not fully purple. The NC TX Flora says these two are possibly toxic. The new Foraging Texas book says all the Physalis are fine. Other sources claim virginiana’s fine or may need a frost. One of the sources is this book about Physalis and relatives so I may get it via interlibrary loan.This is the underside of Plant B. Plant B should be a cultivar of Physalis pruinosa based on its location and what I have planted there. It has similar simple, possibly retrorse hairs. Plant B is not flowering yet this year. I had a really hard time finding flower pictures for P. pruinosa, as most people sort of reasonably are interested in the fruit. It does appear to have yellow anthers. Plant C. This is from a probably perennial wild Physalis (I have never planted any Physalis that made it to fruiting in the backyard). Its hairs are distinctly stellate. None of the individuals in the cluster of 2-4 Plant C individuals were flowering, but the hairs seem to narrow it to P. cinerascens or P. mollis. I think P. cinerascens seems more likely on leaf shape, but both are edible and neither have simple leaf hairs.Plant C leaf (left) and plants A (upper right leaf, bigger) and B (lower right leaf, smaller – it’s from a younger plant), and plant A fruits.
So, am I missing anything obvious here? Is this identifiable? Have any of you consumed P. longifolia or P. virginiana and lived?
Update: Mom showed me a few other keys and they get it to P. virginiana too. None of the keys contain P. pruinosa. P. virginiana is also a perennial while P. pruinosa is an annual, so maybe next year will also provide a clue.
Garden radishes with farm share and grocery store veggies Uncooked pizza with toppings more visible – garden basil as both a topping and as part of pesto that the Chef made a while back, as well as slices of Dwarf Audrey’s Love tomatoes.Cooked pizza. Yum!!
Paula made dinner with kimchi pancakes (with plum sauce) and egg foo young on rice to go with it. Cilantro from the garden is garnishing all of it, plus the kimchi contains walking onions.Red cabbage kimchi makes a mess. More walking onions from the garden here.
Strawberries! Just a few left. They peaked back a while ago.Lemon balm is blooming.This salad contains garden radishes and garden lettuce.Butterfly milkweed in backyard.Verbena halei is leaning under the ironweed.The yellow in the rainbow garden has stopped blooming but the rock garden primroses are blooming!Standing cypress is looking magnificent after several days of tons of rain.
Butterfly milkweed has finally opened!Stubby okra seedlingHaving walking onions as a garnish is an easy way to get a meal bloggable.All dished up.Glass gem popcorn seems very happy!
Walking onions from garden, assorted farm share veggies, with glass noodles and chicken.Pulled a lot more Maximilian sunflower this evening. I put it in a tub with some potting soil to keep until they can go to new homes.I found a baby spittlebug on one sunflower stem! I took it over to the sunflowers we’re keeping so it can keep eating.In the front yard, a few winecup seedlings are coming up in the ground cover orchard area.More baby winecup!I pulled up two more native black walnut seedlings and potted them.Hopefully this one can make it with only half its remaining food. Anyways, this makes a total of four. I have found good homes for most or all of them now. Our lot is too small for another big tree.
Fruit processing is a social endeavor among vaccinated friends.The Chef’s magic strawberry sauce recipe… Strawberries and powdered sugar!The angel food cake meringue.Angel food cake must be cooled upside down for fluffiness.Since they’re tiny angel food cakes I call them cherub cakes.The Chef made everything look pretty.Dog awaits her guests. She likes guests.Paula had the excellent idea to use our garden cart stools as more seating. Farm to table eating!
