Many of us have seen & probably tasted the bright orange exotic looking African Cape Gooseberry used to decorate cakes & desserts. This berry belongs to the Physalis species and are considered members of the tomato family.
Fruits from the Physalis genus are known by a variety of names including native gooseberry, wild cape gooseberry, pygmy ground cherry, cape gooseberry & bladder cherry. One of the plant distinctive feature is the fruitwhich is produced in paper-like covers as if they are wearing capes on them !
When trekking in Singapore, you may stumble across a local Physalis species growing in the wilds. Known as Physalis Minima, it produces much smaller fruits. It is considered a weed and can be found mainly growing in the wastelands. Although no one really cultivates it, I was surprised to find some Singapore gardeners planting rows of it in their garden. This soft-stemmed short-lived herb is about 50 cm tall with small bell shaped flowers having pale yellowish corollas and brown spotted yellow centers
The fruit is a yellow berry completely hidden inside the greatly inflated calyx, which is like a delicate Chinese lantern. When ripe, the ripe fruits of this Physalis species are very tasty. The fruit has a pleasant cherry-tomato like flavor when fully ripe. In the olden days, the Kampong (Village) children love it for the taste but more so because they are fun to play with.
The fruits with their capes on can be squeezed a bit to cause it to burst like a balloon, hence the name 'letup-letup' (explosion) by the Malays. The fruit is called 'bon-tepari' or simply 'tepari' in Bengali. The plant is used medicinally among the Malaysian Chinese as well as the Malays. The leaves are used as a poultice for headaches and ulcers.
The fruit can be dispersed by wind. The dispersal mechanism is called balloon mechanism. The space between the fruit and the covering calyx works as air bladder at early stages.
So the next time you come across it while on your treks, stop a while & admire this little cherry in your bladder.
