Definition of physalis in English:
physalis
nounfʌɪˈseɪlɪsˈfʌɪsəlɪsˈfis-
A plant of a genus that includes the cape gooseberry and Chinese lantern, having an inflated calyx that resembles a lantern in shape.
Genus Physalis, family Solanaceae: many species
Example sentencesExamples
- Take the physalis (cape gooseberry) I tried raising from seed for the first time this season, for instance.
- I've also been cheered up by the unexpected emergence of some physalis plants I'd convinced myself had died when I transplanted them.
- The fruit, as usual with physalis fruits, is enclosed in a papery thin calyx or husk, which is cream in colour.
- Sow physalis in heated propagator; plant out shallots; mulch blackcurrants and raspberries; tidy strawberry bed; finish compost trenches on allotment where squash will grow; weed incessantly.
- Pineapples are being grown in Karachi and its environs in increasing numbers so a few of these wouldn't go amiss along with physalis peruviana, better known as either Chinese gooseberry or cape gooseberry.
Origin
Modern Latin, from Greek phusallis 'bladder' (because of the inflated calyx).