Plant of the week: Chinese Lantern

Name: Chinese Lantern (Physalis alkekengi)

Otherwise known as: Cape Gooseberry, Winter Cherry, Bladder Cherry

Habitat: A perennial shrub member of the Solanaceae family, growing to 3m in woodland in Europe and central Asia. It has a creeping rhizome that gives rise to angled stems from which emerge the fleshy, deeply veined, ovate, opposed, triangular shaped leaves. The flowers are pale white and funnel-like. After flowering the netted calyx, which is brown/green, increases in size and becomes orange to house the pale red cherry shaped fruit. As the fruit matures the calyx loses its orange colour and sheds the fabric, leaving the characteristic tracery that gives it a lantern appearance. The immature fruit and especially the leaves are very poisonous.

What does it do: The generic name, Physalis, is from the Greek for bladder, but while this is a reference to its shape, one of its main herbal uses is to treat infections of the bladder and urinary system. Chinese Lanterns are related to potato and tomatoes and share some of the same chemicals as Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) such as solanine, a powerful alkaloid that is responsible for the toxic nature of the plant. It also contains a bitter compound, Physalin, and high concentrations of vitamin C. Victorian herbalists made decoctions from the berries to treat a range of related ailments including gout, rheumatism and arthritis. Eastern European chemists recommended the fruit for recovering surgical patients and Siberian shamen made a paste from the berries to cover eczema. Russians steeped the berries in vodka to treat bladder infections and cystitis.

The plant is popular with homeopaths that treat bladder and kidney stones and gravel with tinctures. In the past Physalis has been used to treat incontinence, fevers, malaria and sometimes to induce early labour. Recent research indicates the plant may have anti-tumour properties. However, the fruit is best used in jams and the lanterns for table decorations.

 

 

Next dangerousplant         Bird of Paradise flower

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