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Publication #HS678

 

Tomato, Husk — Physalis pruinosa L.1

James M. Stephens2

The husk tomato, which is also called ground cherry, strawberry tomato, Chinese lanterns, tomatillo, bladder cherry, aklekengi, and Cape gooseberry, is a member of the Solanaceae family. It is similar to but smaller than the tomatillo, P. ixocarpa Brot. ex Hornem.

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Figure 2. 

DESCRIPTION

Both upright and trailing varieties are available. One variety is an exotic, super-hardy, 2-foot-high perennial with tomato-shaped leaves. Its small white flowers, which form in the spring, are followed by large dense clusters of 1- to 2-inch brilliant, orange-scarlet, lantern-shaped fruits in the fall. Each fruit is smooth-skinned and completely enclosed in a thin papery husk, which is loose and easily removed. Each tomato-like fruit contains many small, inconspicuous seeds.

USE

The whole fruit with the husk removed is used in preserves. Pies may be made from fruits that have dropped and matured on the ground.

CULTURE

Husk tomatoes are seldom grown in Florida, but do well in home gardens. Plants are annuals in the North, but some forms are perennial farther south. Seeds are often advertised in mail order catalogs. Plant seeds about the time of year that you would normally grow tomatoes. Soil preparation and plant culture is also similar to that for tomatoes. Most varieties are sensitive to frost damage, and insects appear to be the most severe pest problem. The tomato fruit worm, tunneling into the fruit through a hole in the husk, has been observed in the fall in Gainesville, FL.

Footnotes

1.

This document is HS678, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date May 1994. Revised March 2009. Reviewed February 2012. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

James M. Stephens, professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.