Physalis crassifolia is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common names yellow nightshade groundcherry and thick-leaf ground-cherry.Physalis crassifolia. NatureServe. 2012. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in rocky, dry desert and mountain habitat. This is a perennial herb producing a ridged, angular, branching stem approaching 80 cm long, taking a clumped, matted, or erect form. The fleshy oval leaves are 1 to 3 cm long and have smooth, wavy, or bluntly toothed edges. The herbage is glandular and coated in short hairs. The yellow flowers growing from the leaf axils are widely bell-shaped, vaguely five-lobed, and around 2 cm wide. The star-shaped calyx of sepals at the base of the flower enlarges as the fruit develops, becoming an inflated, angled lanternlike structure about 2 cm long, which contains the berry.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · AusTraits: herb · TRY: Subshrub, Forb/herb
Woodinessnon-woody
03Chemical composition15 compounds
Compounds documented for Physalis crassifolia across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Physalis crassifolia has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens14
Marker genes4
GenBank sequences4
eDNA detections8
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
Physalis crassifolia voucher COLO:Sharples 744 internal transcribed spacer 1, partial sequence; 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene and internal transcribed spacer 2, complete sequence; and large subunit ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence
Marker genes sequenced
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK1★rbcLa★ITS3★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPhysalis crassifolia carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosomes2n = 24 n = 12
Ploidydiploid inferred
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
2n 241×CCDB · book-fedorov
CCDB · book-fedorov — Menzel 1951
n 123×CCDB · solan
CCDB · solan
Ploidy records — measured levels and diploid/polyploid inferences · click for sources
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin2.59 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 664 records
Wild obs. + sensor4 827
Museum / vouchered1 837
Origin
Native277
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO10 328 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy90% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 515≤1 km 312≤10 km 185>10 km 136
3 148 georeferenced · 1 679 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor4 827
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy60% within 1 km
≤100 m 205≤1 km 200≤10 km 241>10 km 34
680 georeferenced · 1 157 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 837
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions58 of 77 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Claremont, US
340
San Diego, US
269
Riverside, US
237
ASUlocation not on record
129
Phoenix, US
90
Juriquilla, MX
87
Flagstaff, US
58
Austin, US
46
Bronx, US
39
Santa Barbara, US
33
La Paz, MX
27
CASlocation not on record
26
Davis, US
26
Kew, GB
23
Saint Louis, US
17
Mexico City, MX
16
Wuzhou, CN
15
Henderson, US
15
Los Angeles, US
13
Arcata, US
12
EL PASO, US
11
Pullman, US
11
Long Beach, US
11
Logan, US
10
US
10
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
10
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
10
Tampa, US
9
San Luis Obispo, US
9
Northridge, US
9
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
9
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
9
Irvine, US
8
Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record
8
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
8
Provo, US
7
Ensenada, MX
7
Hermosillo, MX
6
South Kensington, GB
6
Moscow, US
6
Durango, MX
5
Angwin, US
5
Tepatitlán de Morelos, MX
5
The University of Arizonalocation not on record
5
Austin, US
4
Pocatello, US
4
San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record
4
San Francisco, US
3
Bloomington, US
3
Orem, US
3
San Jose, US
3
Chapingo, MX
2
Durham, US
2
Boise, US
2
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
2
Albuquerque, US
2
Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalitionlocation not on record
2
San Bernardino, US
2
Caldwell, US
2
Chapel Hill, US
2
USFSlocation not on record
2
Smithfield, AU
1
Chadron, US
1
Dresden, DE
1
Hobart, AU
1
Bangkok, TH
1
Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record
1
Denver, US
1
INFlocation not on record
1
Cambridge, US
1
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
1
San Diego Natural History Museumlocation not on record
1
Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record
1
Frankfurt am Main
1
Durango, US
1
Chicago, US
1
Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahualocation not on record
1
77 institutions · 1 772 of 1 837 vouchered records shown · 65 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA8 detections
Where the DNA of Physalis crassifolia was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found8
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 8 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
Riparian/Coastal Sage Scrub with Rhus integr…Opuntia proliferaCoastal Sage Scrub/Bluff vegetation with Pla…Cercidium microphyllum, Justicia californica…sandy soils
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median17.0 °C 15.5–18.4
Seasonal swing summer↔winter12.4 °C
Max temp (day)20.9 °C 20.1–24.2
Min temp (night)12.9 °C 10.7–14.1
Precipitation8.90 mm/mo 4.80–23.2
Air humidity56.8 % 44.2–62.5
Moisture balance-114 mm/mo -152–-70.1
Vapour deficit804 Pa 690–1,189
Wind speed3.00 m/s 1.90–4.20
Cloud cover27.8 % 22.9–30.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 4 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation4 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility6 664 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI8 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics14 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗