Bumper crop of wild perennial ground-cherries (Physalis virginiana) at the farm this year! The fully-ripe golden fruits, with or without the purple blush, are really delicious — evocative of pineapple and citrus. We've never been able to harvest enough to offer it in the catalog, but I expect we will this year (each little fruit has dozens or even upwards of a hundred tiny seeds) thanks to a previously unnoticed patch of the plants in a weedy stretch of ground where we haven't had anything planted in years.
This species can be a weedy troublemaker (notorious among soybean farmers for reducing yields), but it's also an edible native perennial berry, so I'm still a big fan. It's proving especially welcome this year, as an extended end-of-season drought has led to some crop failures. Finding sweet juicy morsels amidst the otherwise bone-dry landscape is an encouraging treat.
Virginia groundcherry, as it's known in English, also has a long history of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples, including against eye infections, gastrointestinal problems, and open wounds. Modern researchers have recently validated such traditional uses by finding strong antibacterial action caused by the presence of a powerful steroid called "withanolide" (which is found in many other nightshades too, including its namesake ashwagandha, or Withania somnifera).
This species is known to hybridize with another tasty native perennial groundcherry species, the "clammy groundcherry" (or Physalis heterophylla), so I'm optimistic about its potential to lead to a productive new perennial crop.
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