Physalis species are members of the tomato family, Solanaceae, and most of us should be familiar with the bright orange, exotic-looking fruits that are used to decorate some types of cakes. They can also be found on sale in the chillers in some supermarkets too.
Fruits produced by this genus of plants are known by a large number of names. The name I find most suitable is cape gooseberry because fruits (which are technically a berry) of the Physalis are produced in paper-like covers as if they are wearing capes on them! Morphologically, the cape is actually the calyx!
In Singapore, I have been told that the larger fruiting Physalis species cannot be grown well here due to our much hotter tropical climate. However, there is one Physalis species, P. minima, that grows quite well here. It produces much smaller fruits and this probably how the specific name comes about.
Physalis minima is considered a weed here because it can found growing in wastelands and no one really deliberates cultivates it. Sometimes it can find its way into the garden. I have seen this plant being offered for sale in some nurseries occasionally and the older folks who have lived in the kampong before often react in awe, wondering why a weed is being offered for sale! Singapore is now highly urbanised and many plants have been wiped out after development. I feel P. minima is one of them as it cannot be easily found growing in the urbanised areas of Singapore anymore.
Just recently, I noticed some new seedlings of this plant appearing in my community garden again. Below are some pictures which I took quite some time back. The new seedlings are growing in the same garden bed where some plants used to grow. They probably came from the seeds that were left over from the previous batch of plants. Birds have been reported to be able to help in the dispersal of the seeds of this species of Physalis after they have consumed the fruit elsewhere.
When ripe, the ripe fruits of this Physalis species are actually quite tasty as they are sweet on the tongue. I believe children will love it. More so, if they are fun to play because the fruits with their capes on can be squeezed a bit to cause it to burst like a balloon.
Unfortunately, this plant doesn’t seem to last too long and behaves much like an annual. After some time, the plant actually dies down. The branches are actually quite brittle and the plant definitely needs staking when it grows tall.
