Physalis alkekengi - Bladder cherry

Did you know that Physalis alkekengi, Bladder cherry, an herbaceous ornamental perennial plant is easily identified by the large, bright orange to red papery covering over its fruit, which resembles paper Chinese lanterns?

Physalis alkekengi, known in English as Bladder cherry, Chinese lantern, Japanese-lantern, strawberry groundcherry, or winter cherry, with its spectaculary colourful large, bright orange to red papery covering over its fruit, which resembles paper Chinese lanterns, is native to South-east Europe and Japan, naturalized in many parts of the worlld, and grown in Indian gardens. Naturally grows wild but over the centuries has become adopted into kitchen gardens throughout the world. 

Physalis alkekengi is an herbaceous, perennial ornamental plant and a herb that grows to a height of 75 to 80 cm with spirally arranged leaves. This flowering plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, in the genus Physalis, yields a proloific crop of 300 fruits in a single plant. It has an underground rhizome. At the top of the stems white or yellow flowers bloom. The cup of the herb grows after flowering to form a vesicle (heart shaped) red to orange (4–5 cm long and broad) surrounding the fruit. This is a red berry.

The orange or red "lanterns" (fruiting calyces) of Physalis alkekengi, lose their bright colour and papery, appearance during the winter, and, by the Spring, become delicately beautiful, skeletal networks of beige veins revealing the orange-red berries within. While the fruit is deliciously sweet, the plant itself has poisonous potential due to its glycoside content.

In Ayurvedic medicine, it is known as Raajaputrika, and in Unani as Kaknaj. In Indian vernacular languages it is known as: Dodda budde gida, Tankari in Kannada; Akarkara, Avautha in Sanskrit; Akarkara, Tankari, Tipari in HIndi; Akkarakaaram in Malyalam; Periya-takkali in Tamil; Popti in Marathi; and Moti Popti in Gujarati. 

The fruits of this plant are used for medicinal purposes. Contains a bitter element, the fisalina, alkaloids, pigments, and plenty of vitamin C. Physalis has the following medicinal properties: diuretic, colds and flu (thanks to vitamin C), laxative, constipation, for the elimination of uric acid (kidney, urinary tract infections, gout and rheumatism). It contains a wide variety of physalins which when isolated from the plant have antibacterial and leishmanicidal activities in vitro. An infusion with 15 or 30 g of ripe fruit of Physalis alkekengi in ½ liter of water is used for diuretics. A decoction of   

 15-20 berries of this herb, sweetened to taste, is used for purifying effect (drinking a glass in the morning). Fruits have also been used for fertility control in Iran. 

In the traditional Bon Festival of Japan, bright and lantern-like fruiting calyces of Physalis alkekengi, is prayer offering intended to help guide the souls of the dead. 

- Narasipur Char