ground cherry

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various chiefly New World plants of the genus Physalis, having small, globose, fleshy fruit enclosed in a papery, bladderlike, persistent calyx. Also called husk tomato.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A plant, Prunus (Cerasus) Chamæcerasus, with smooth shining leaves and spherical acid fruit, sometimes found in gardens budded on the common cherry. See cherry, 1.—2. An American plant of the genus Physalis.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. See Alkekengi.
2. n. (Bot.) A European shrub (Prunus Chamæcerasus), with small, very acid fruit.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of numerous cosmopolitan annual or perennial herbs of the genus Physalis bearing edible fleshy berries enclosed in a bladderlike husk; some cultivated for their flowers