The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Apple of Peru

Nicandra physalodes, Solanaceae, the nightshade family

The apple of Peru is a herb of the nightshade family, growing to about 2 m, with pale blue to mauve flowers4. Kew gives its native range as Peru to north-western Argentina2.

Its “apple” is a round berry, pale yellow and 10 to 22 mm across, hidden inside a papery calyx with prominent veins4, which eventually opens to let out small brown seeds3. The resemblance of its fruits to the tomatillo, Physalis, gave the plant its species name, physalodes3.

Grown as an ornamental, it has escaped4. In Australia it is naturalised in New South Wales, chiefly in the coastal districts, and in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia4; in North America it is an introduced weed of fields and disturbed ground3.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Nicandra physalodes, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Nicandra physalodes, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "Peru to NW. Argentina".
  3. Nicandra physalodes, apple-of-Peru, Go Botany, Native Plant Trust. Supports: introduced and weedy in North America, in fields and disturbed places; the rounded fruits in papery tissue, opening to release small brown seeds; the epithet from the fruit's likeness to the tomatillo, Physalis.
  4. Nicandra physalodes, PlantNET, National Herbarium of New South Wales. Supports: apple-of-Peru; a herb to about 2 m with pale blue to mauve flowers; the papery fruiting calyx and the pale yellow berry 10 to 22 mm across; cultivated as an ornamental and naturalised in New South Wales and other Australian states; native of Peru.