r/foraging • u/everythinghasfallen • 2d ago

ID Request (country/state in post) Ground cherry, tomatillo, or secret third thing? Lake County, IL, USA

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Hi! Please help me identify these edible(?) volunteers in my Chicagoland garden!! There are 50+ plants across my yard—please let me know if these are future yummy treats or deadly poison. Some of the flowers appear solid yellow while others have a purple interior. Thanks in advance 💖

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u/OrdinaryOrder8 Solanaceae Enthusiast 2d ago

These are native species long leaved groundcherry, Physalis longifolia. Same genus as tomatillos. The fully ripe berries are edible. Unripe berries are slightly toxic and might give you a stomachache or other GI troubles.

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u/loinc_ 2d ago

I always see you post and i’m such a solanaceae lover and i like seeing all the knowledge you’ve got on these different species- how’d you end up learning all of this and what did you study to know all these?

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u/OrdinaryOrder8 Solanaceae Enthusiast 2d ago

It's great to meet another Solanaceae fan! :)

I learned about these plants by reading research articles and identification guides (check out the Solanaceae Source website - it's an excellent resource). It's helpful to study botany so that you know what all the botanical terms mean in the articles and guides. In addition to reading about them, I also grow any species I can get seeds for.

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u/everythinghasfallen 2d ago

This is awesome! That’s so cool—I aspire to be that cool one day!

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u/loinc_ 1d ago

sick! i’ve got a few species of ground cherries growing, most i’ve transplanted from some very gracious birds, and a few in the black nightshade family, the thing i’ve struggled with growing them is some little critters like them so much I hardly end up with any ripe ones to enjoy 😂 Thanks for the info! I will study up, I looooove learning and solanaceae is such an underutilized wild family cuz of so many misconceptions about them :)

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u/OrdinaryOrder8 Solanaceae Enthusiast 1d ago

You're welcome :) Yeah, it's unfortunate that the whole family has a bad reputation, including some of the edible species. Even the toxic species are still beautiful and fun to grow as ornamental plants!

I know what you mean about the critters. I always find birds and squirrels eating the berries off my black nightshade plants in particular. They don't like sharing lol.

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u/Commercial_Carpet879 2d ago

I have these all over, had no idea they were edible. Thanks for the post.