Close-up view of a Physalis alkekengi, the Chinese Lantern Plant.
Physalis alkekengi (Bladder cherry, Chinese lantern, Japanese lantern, or Winter cherry; Japanese: hōzuki), is a relative of P. peruviana (Cape Gooseberry), easily identifiable by the larger, bright orange to red papery covering over its fruit, which resemble paper lanterns. It is native from southern Europe east across southern Asia to Japan. It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 40–60 cm tall, with spirally arranged leaves 6–12 cm long and 4–9 cm broad. The flowers are white, with a five-lobed corolla 10–15 mm across, with an inflated basal calyx which matures into the papery orange fruit covering, 4–5 cm long and broad. Popular for the papery bright-orange lantern pods that develop around the ripening fruit, these are often cut and used for Thanksgiving and Halloween arrangements. Plants are aggressive spreaders, and best kept out of the perennial border so they don't take over. Also can be grown in tubs. Small white flowers appear in midsummer, over a bushy mound of coarse green leaves. Pods are green at first, but should be harvested as soon as the orange colour develops, the leaves stripped then stems hung upside down to dry in a warm dark room. Chinese-lantern (Physalis alkekengi) is an outdoor ornamental grown for its lantern-shaped fruit cover (pericarp). The enclosed immature fruits contain sufficient quantities of solanine to cause gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children. The mature fruits are apparently edible (Lampe and McCann 1985).
Size: 3744px × 5616px
Location: The Secret Gardens of Sandwich, The Salutation, Knightrider Street, Sandwich, Kent, CT13 9EW
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: alkekengi, bright-orange, chinese, close-, lantern, lanterns, physalis, plant, pods
