Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Perennial herb, 10-30 cm tall, from a more or less woody taproot; stems erect when young and diffuse with age, branching primarily from the base; herbage pubescent with simple hairs mixed with occasional glandular hairs.
Leaves: Alternate along the stems, each leaf tapering at the base into a short winged petiole; blades 2-6 cm long, broadly lanceolate in outline, shallowly pinnatifid with rounded lobes 3-6 mm long, and villous with simple and glandular hairs.
Flowers: Cream to purple-tinged and somewhat showy, on peduncles 2-3 cm long from the leaf axils; calyx 5-lobed and bell-shaped, 4 mm long, villous, and enlarging in fruit to cover the berry; corolla flat and circular (rotate), 10-15 mm in diameter, 5-angled and pleated between the angles, pale yellow to purplish.
Fruits: Berry 7 mm diameter, pale yellow to whitish, closely wrapped by the persistent calyx; containing flattened kidney-shaped seeds.
Ecology: Found on dry plains and low hills, from 3,500-6,000 ft (1067-1829 m); flowers April-October.
Notes: Chamaesaracha spp. are perennial herbs of the nightshade family; the flowers strongly resemble tomato and tomatillo flowers, with flat, rounded 5-pointed corollas. A distinguishing trait of this genus is the calyx, which enlarges substantially in fruit to wrap around the berry. Physalis (the tomatillo genus) also has this trait, but in Physalis the calyx is papery, bladdery, and much larger than the berry. In Chamaesaracha the calyx remains herbaceous and wraps tightly around the berry. C. conoides is distinguished from others in the genus by its leaves which have pinnate, often irregular lobes, and the long hairs that cover the stems and leaves, which are often mixed with some glandular hairs as well.
Ethnobotany: Unknown
Etymology: Chamaesaracha comes from the Greek word chamai, dwarf or false, and the genus Saracha which it resembles and is also in the nightshade family (Solanaceae); conoides means cone-like, referring to the slightly cone-shaped corolla.
Synonyms: Solanum conoides
Editor: AHazelton 2017
