Cutleaf Ground Cherry /Physalis angulata is an erect, herbaceous, annual plant belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. It reproduces by seed. Its leaves are dark green and roughly oval, often with tooth shapes around the edge. The flowers are five-sided and pale yellow; the yellow-orange fruits are born inside a balloon-like calyx. It is native to the Americas, but is now widely distributed and naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. It is related to, but not to be confused with Physalis peruviana, the Cape gooseberry, a fruit native to, and cultivated in the western Andes, and exported worldwide. The plant produces fruit and is edible. Can be eaten raw, cooked, jammed, etc.[rx]
| Cutleaf Ground Cherry Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cutleaf Ground Cherry |
| Scientific Name: | Physalis angulata |
| Origin | Tropical America. It is now distributed pantropically as a weed |
| Colors | Green when young turning to yellowish-orange as they mature |
| Shapes | subglobose to an ovoid berry that is 1-1.8 cm long and is surrounded in the outer layer |
| Taste | Bitter |
| Health benefits | Heart Disease Prevention, Diabetes Treatment, Wounds Repair, Cancer Treatment, Alzheimer Disease Protection, Infection Resistance, Low cholesterol, Muscle Growth, Urinary Stones Prevention, Cold Treatment, Bone Density Maintenance, Muscle Tissue Damage Prevention, Scurvy Prevention, Immunity Booster, Vision Improvement |
Cut leaf Ground Cherry with the scientific name Physalis angulata is an erect, herbaceous, annual plant belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is related to, but not to be confused with Physalis peruviana, the Cape gooseberry, a fruit native to, and cultivated in the western Andes, and exported worldwide. The plant is native to tropical America. It is now distributed pan tropically as a weed. Few of the popular common names of the plans are Angular Winter Cherry, Annual Ground Cherry, Balloon Cherry, Bladder Cherry, Bladder berry, Bolsa Mulaca, Cape Gooseberry, Cherry lance- Leaf Ground Cherry, Cow Pops, Cut-Leaved Ground Cherry, Cut leaf Groundcherry, Dog tomato, Fisalia, Fisalia Tooth-Leaved Bladder, Ground Cherry, Hog Weed, Husked Tomato, Mullaca, Sun berry, Tooth-Leaved Winter Cherry, Wild Cape Gooseberry Wild Gooseberry, Wild Physalis, Wild Tomato, Winter Cherry, Bush tomato, Chinese lantern, Goose berry, Indian gooseberry weed, Mullaca, Native gooseberry, Battre-autour, Bolsa mullaca and Camapu.
The genus name Physalis, a Greek word, means bladder and refers to the inflated calyx, while the Latin species name angulata means angled and refers to the stems or the angled nature of calyx. It is an effective stimulant for the immune system and its juice is used in the treatment of earache, jaundice, fever and bladder disease. Fruit and other aerial parts are used in the treatment of boils, sores, cuts, constipation, intestinal and digestive problems, and used as anti-mutagenic, anticoagulant, antispasmodic, anti-leukemia agents
Plant Description
Cut leaf Ground Cherry is an erect, branched, glabrescent, herbaceous annual plant that grows about 30–50 cm tall. The plant is found growing in disturbed areas, pastures, plantations, cane- fields, villages, along roadsides, on open slopes, in open forested areas from near sea level, orchards, nurseries, fallow land, waste areas, urban open spaces, and croplands. It thrives in fertile, moist, and well-drained soil rich in organic matter. The stem is hollow, ribbed, green often tinged purple.
Leaves
Leaves are ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse, acute or rounded somewhat asymmetric at base, acute-acuminate, often repand-dentate, rather dark dull green, very short-puberulent on both sides on the nerves, 1-2 per node, usually irregularly toothed but sometimes smooth, 3-15 cm long and 2-10 cm wide. Leaf bases are unequal. The petioles are usually 3-4 cm long or sometimes longer, up to 10 cm. A single plant can have up to 200 leaves, depending on the weed biotypes and several factors such as water and nutrient availability.
Flowers
Flowers are borne on stalks 5-40 mm in length. The flowering time is June to October in Greece and Turkey. Corolla is yellowish-green, usually without spots though occasionally with distinct spots, 4-12 mm long and 6-12 mm wide. Anthers are bluish or violet, up to 2.5 mm long, and are borne on stalks up to 5 mm long. The green outer layer is 4-7 mm long with triangular lobes about as long as the tube. Style is about 4-5 mm long, articulate on the top of the glabrous ovary, and shed quite early leaving a slight depression. Stigma is green, large, and capitate, much wider than the style.
Fruits
Fertile flowers are followed by orange-colored subglobose to an ovoid berry that is 1-1.8 cm long and is surrounded in the outer layer. This outer layer (a balloon-like calyx of 5 lobes with a small apical opening) is 2-6 mm long; it grows around and encloses the fruit. The fruiting calyx is pale green (pale brown when dry), inflated, 10-angled or ribbed, 23-35 mm long, and 15-25 mm wide. It is borne on a stalk 1-4 cm long. Seeds are disc-shaped to broadly reniform, 1-2 mm long, flat, pale yellow. The fruit is succulent in nature and tangy in taste although sometimes it may be bitter.
Ethnomedicinal importance of Cut leaf Ground Cherry
| Plant parts | Medicinal Importance |
| Entire Plant | Childbirth, diuretic, fever, liver diseases, gonorrhea, jaundice, malaria, nephritis, postpartum hemorrhage, rashes, skin sores,
sleeping sickness, to prevent abortion and tumors |
| Fruit | Infection, infertility, inflammation, postpartum infection, pruritis and skin diseases |
| Leaf | Asthma, dermatosis, diarrhea, diuretic, earache, fever, gonorrhea, hemorrhage, hepatitis, infections, inflammation, liver disorders, malaria, postpartum infection, pruritis, rheumatism, skin diseases, prevent abortion and worms |
| Sap | Earache, postpartum infection and pruritis. |
| Root | Diabetes, earache, fever, hepatitis, jaundice, liver disorders, malaria, rheumatism |
| Stem | Hepatitis |
| Seed | Infertility |
Health benefits of Cut Leaf Ground Cherry
Based on the nutrition found in the cut leaf Ground Cherry, here are some health benefits that you can gain for your body by consuming cut leaf Ground Cherry.
1. Heart Disease Prevention
Vitamin C is good protection for your body because it helps you to keep away from the free radicals that can damage the blood vessels. Such damage is the main cause of one of the deadly diseases, heart disease. That is why this tiny fruit is good not only for keeping heart disease away but also for other problems related to the cardiovascular. It also reduces blood pressure and keeps the LDL low while increasing the HDL.
2. Low cholesterol
High levels of cholesterols have been associated with numerous severe diseases like stroke, but the good news is the combination of vitamin C and vitamin A from Cutleaf Ground Cherry can keep the body’s cholesterol low. If you like, you may combine Cut leaf Ground Cherry with an octopus by creating a unique dish because the health benefits of octopus for cholesterol include keeping your heart healthy.
3. Bone Density Maintenance
Another effect of oxidative stress from free radicals is the loss of bone density. Particularly for women, bone density can lead to osteoporosis when they are aging. Consuming vitamin C helps you maintain bone density so you can stay healthy.
4. Muscle Tissue Damage Prevention
Vitamin C is also great for preventing soreness and damage in the muscle tissue after doing exercises. It is normal when you experience muscle aches after exercising, but you can reduce it by consuming Cut leaf Ground Cherry regularly in the right portion.
5. Scurvy Prevention
Scurvy is a condition where your body experiences vitamin C deficiency, which results in weakness. The signs can be seen from your hair becoming curly, the limbs sore and the body exhausted. This condition can be treated by consuming vitamin C-rich fruits regularly for a certain period of time to get your body back to its health.
6. Cancer Treatment
There are many health benefits of Cut leaf Ground Cherry. It has been displayed by several types of research that consuming vitamin-C-rich foods is associated with cancer treatment including lung cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, and mouth cancer.
7. Vision Improvement
Although vitamin A benefit has been known all over the world, at least you need to know that consuming Cut leaf Ground Cherry helps you fill your vitamin A daily requirement. The ability of vitamin A in improving vision includes preventing blindness and dry eyes since it helps your eyes to adapt better to darkness and light.
Moreover, it helps to keep the retina healthy resulting in cataract prevention. More interestingly, combined with vitamin C this vitamin can even provide better protection from cataracts since the deficiency of vitamin C has been associated with it.
8. Cold Treatment
Cold and cough are signs that your immune system starts weakening, so when it happens you can consume vitamin C as the natural treatment. It improves the immune system and helps your body recover faster. At the same time, it improves your body’s iron absorption and infection resistance, which also do the job.
9. Diabetes Treatment
Vitamin C is quite helpful in treating diabetes because it encourages glucose and insulin processing. This is why research showed the connection between vitamin C deficiencies with diabetes.
10. Urinary Stones Prevention
Vitamin A has calcium phosphate formation that contributes to preventing urinary stones. By keeping the urinary tract lining in its shape, vitamin A in Cut leaf Ground Cherry reduces the risk of stones forming in the tract.
11. Immunity Booster
Both vitamin A and vitamin C are immunity boosters. They can aid the body fight infections while enhancing the white blood cells’ activities in the body. Apart from protecting your body from germs, they also fight them to go out once they enter it. Double vitamins providing double protections gained from a tiny fruit are an amazing fact.
12. Infection Resistance
Cut leaf Ground Cherry has got vitamin C as well as vitamin A which enhances the creation of the white blood cells that keeps harmful microorganisms away. You can get your body supplied with Cut leaf Ground Cherry when you get cold because it has the two great vitamins to help you recover.
13. Muscle Growth
If you have teens and children, encourage them to eat Cut leaf Ground Cherry because its vitamin A guarantees their muscles properly grow. Moreover, it also helps keep the bones in their shape.
14. Wounds Repair
One of the vitamin C benefits you can gain from Cut leaf Ground Cherry is getting wounds repaired better. By promoting the growth of the connective tissues, vitamin C is good for repairing wounds. You can consume Cut leaf Ground Cherry to help your wounds heal faster from the inside.
15. Alzheimer Disease Protection
Consuming Cut leaf Ground Cherry may help you away from Alzheimer’s disease since it consists of vitamin C. Research showed that consuming more than 500 mg of vitamin C combined with vitamin E can lower the risk. You can actually have other vitamin-C-rich fruits, but including them in your list is great.
Traditional uses and benefits of Cut leaf Ground Cherry
- In Central, South America, and the Caribbean, Physalis angulata is widely used as a medicinal plant in traditional medicine.
- In Curaçao and Jamaica, the herb infusion is taken for gonorrhea, and in Trinidad for indigestion, nephritis, and fever; and for toothache in Puerto Rico.
- Leaves are popularly used in Guatemala for the treatment of gonorrhea.
- Plant decoction is used to treat upset stomach and Bright’s disease; the leaves mixed with other plant ingredients in rum as a preservative is used in the treatment of skin diseases; the seeds are cooked with Phyllanthus Amara seeds in a preparation administered to women to facilitate labor in Guyana and Surinam.
- Different extracts and infusions of fruit and plant parts are commonly used in traditional medicine for the treatment of malaria, asthma, hepatitis, dermatitis, and rheumatism and as anti-mutagenic, anticoagulant, antispasmodic, and anti-leukemia agents in Brazil.
- Roots are boiled with roots of uruca and acai and drank as an herbal tea for jaundice and inflamed liver in Brazil.
- Sliced and softened root decoction in rum is used for treating diabetes in Peruvian herbal medicine.
- A root infusion is used for hepatitis.
- A leaf infusion is used as a diuretic; decoction of leaf and fruit is applied onto inflamed areas as an anti-inflammatory and disinfectant.
- A leaf infusion is administered for asthma and postpartum infections.
- Leaf decoction is used for malaria and crushed green fruit paste is used for scabies.
- Various parts of the plant have been used as a febrifuge anthelminthic, anti-rheumatic, diuretic, analgesic, and for treating gonorrhea, hemorrhoids, otitis, hepatitis, and malaria in Peru.
- Leaves are used to treat a cutaneous and subcutaneous parasitic infection, whitlow lesions, wounds, diarrhea, dysentery, eye disorders, stomach disorders, asthma, lithiasis, anuria, African trypanosomiasis, measles, smallpox, chickenpox in tropical Africa.
- Leaves are applied to infected scarification wounds and Guinea worm sores and used externally for rheumatic pain.
- Fruit is considered to be a tonic, diuretic and purgative in Punjab.
- The Mundas of Chhota Nagpur mix the juice of the leaves with water and mustard oil and use it as a remedy against earache.
- The plant is also extensively used for various ailments in traditional medicine in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea.
- Malays are reported to poultice the plant for headache and an infusion taken for intestinal pains in Peninsular Malaysia.
- Leaves smeared with oil and heated were applied to ulcers.
- Decoction of the plant and Plantago major leaves were used for gonorrhea and as a diuretic.
- In Sarawak, the Malays use a poultice of the plant for headaches; the Selako build the plant with salt and the solution is used as a gargle for toothache.
- Decoction of the roots is drunk to treat hypertension and diabetes in Sabah.
- Chewed roots are applied to the lower abdomen to reduce stomach pain in Brunei.
- Pounded leaves are used for headaches and itches.
- Leaves had been used as a vermifuge and an extract for fever in Indonesia.
- Fruits are used for treating epilepsy, dysuria, jaundice, bleeding gums, dropsy, urinary disorders, and gout.
- Herb infusion is used as a remedy for hepatitis, influenza, bronchitis, throat infections, and orchitis in Sulawesi.
- Leaf decoction is drunk to treat constipation; leaf sap aqueous solution is taken as an abortifacient in Papua New Guinea.
- Seeds are recorded as a remedy for sterility in Solomon Island.
- Herb is used as a diuretic, anti-diarrhea, and anti-pyretic in Thailand.
- An aqueous solution of the crushing plant is drunk for oral abscesses or topically applied to them.
- Root decoction is used to treat diabetes and hypoglycemia in the Philippines.
- Leaves are analgesic and used externally throughout tropical Africa to treat skin ailments such as itch, smallpox pustules, whitlow lesions, infected scarification wounds, and rheumatic pain, and to relieve muscular stiffness and pain.
- Lotion prepared from the leaves is applied to treat ophthalmia in children.
- Leaves are eaten or applied as an enema to cure stomachache, colic, lithiasis, and anuria, and are added to palm wine to cure fever and to calm attacks of asthma, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Culinary uses
- Fruits are edible, juicy and a good source of vitamin C.
- Raw fruit can also be used as a vegetable.
- In tropical Africa, the fruit is eaten as a snack or in sauces.
- In several countries, the raw leaves are consumed as salad although bitter.
- Its roots and epigeal parts are taken as tea or infusion, as traditional medicine in some countries.
Cautions of Cut leaf Ground Cherry
Cut leaf Ground Cherry is truly great and amazing, packed with many nutrients. However, there are still some things to put into account before consumption to prevent some unwanted conditions.
Poison
It is recommended that you eat the ripped Cut leaf Ground cherries because the unripe ones are said to be poisonous. Some studies and reports showed that some bad conditions can happen from the consumption of unripe Cut leaf Ground cherries. So you must pay attention to always let them ripen before eating.
Allergies
Although this condition is rarely found, those who are allergic to berries may have to avoid this fruit too. You should also put this fruit out of your diet list if you can’t tolerate vitamin C just in case it leads to some allergy symptoms.
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