English: ‘Chinese lantern plant’

YASIN J. NASIR

Plant up to 60 cm tall. subglabrous. Leaves 7-11 x 4-8.2 cm, ovate to ovate-cordate. sinuate to subentire, cuneate. Petiole up to 40 mm long. Flowers white. Calyx ± 6 mm long, orange-red. 25-60 mm in fruit. globose-conoid; lobes triangular. acute or acuminate. Corolla 11-15 mm long, campanulate. Stamens and style included. Berry c. 15 mm broad, globose, orange. Seeds 2.2 mm long, subreniform, compressed, minutely reticulate, brownish-yellow.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Lectotype: Described from Italy. Hb. Linn. 247/5 (LINN).

Distribution: Europe (C. & S.), Iran, C. Asia.

The ‘chinese lantern plant’ is usually found in damp shady places from 1219-1800 m in Kashmir. Also sparingly cultivated for its edible fruit, which is also a diuretic and useful for gout. Spreads by suckers.