| Physalis is an economically important genus that has been used for several centuries by people of the New and Old World. Literature and field work revealed that the species are commonly used as food and medication. Several common names are employed for the plants by local inhabitants. Only five species are cultivated.;To understand its generic limits, a chloroplast DNA restriction site comparison was undertaken with 30 accessions of Physalis and one of each of the closely related genera Chamaesaracha, Deprea, Margaranthus and Quincula. The phylogeny obtained by a cladistic analysis indicates that Physalis, as classically circumscribed, is polyphyletic. The limits of the genus were expanded so as to include Quincula and Margaranthus. So conceived, Physalis contains four subgenera (Physalis, Physalodendron, Quincula and Epeteiorhiza). Subgenus Epeteiorhiza was further subdivided into 10 sections, delimited not only by chloroplast DNA, but also by morphology.;A detailed systematic study of the 14 species of section Epeteiorhiza was rendered, including a key to the species, complete synonymy, habitat information and distributional maps. The section is largely recognized by a syndrome of characters including: glabrous or glandular vestiture; non rhizomatous; and solitary rotate yellow corollas. |
