new to me

[zinc oxide]

 

 

 

 

Found this walking along the road one day scrounging for cans.  The flower looks similar to something I believe is in the Hibiscus family, but the 'spikey' looking stems eliminated that.

 Having nothing better to do, (August 13th first pic, probably a week after 1st 'discovered"), I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find out. Various phrases featuring the term obsessive have been bandied about... By someone who is actually a textbook example of OCD, (I think what she is doing is called projection)...over marginally unimportant stuff like working and paying bills. It's a wonder... Different strokes for different folks I guess.

'Ground Cherry' seems to be fairly common. Physalis.*, i think there are at least 3 'variants', or whatever the regional plant name is. Apparently a member of the solanaceae? ('maters n 'taters..who knew!)

And tomatillos

This .var? is definitely a vining/intertwining hairy ground a spredin'  something or another.

The leaves are mostly ginseng/paw paw gold now, yet plenty not ripe fruit remain. Due to my inherent 'Cat-Like'...curiosity, I discovered that even a smallish green one tasted 'different' enough to eat 4-5 more. Immediately. Very early on. 

When fruit is Yellowish? Amazing. Seems to be no rhyme or reason to size/ripe, some of the husks have only 'net-like' ribs/lattice remaining, still green. It was only after the accelerating die-back started that i literally stumbled over an extensive network, yielding some of the choicest morsels yet  Have some in a plastic jar, picked before the first hard frost, comparatively speaking, 2 nights ago. They seem to be ripening, but I thought that on the last batch also.  first hint of yellow and I can't resist. Both times with jar loosely capped. The fruits secrete stickiness and you can definitely smell them in the container. Probably can ferment the seeds like tomatoes?

 it's been a couple hours trying to put this together, but breakfast is done and I will be banished To the outdoors. Kind of a late lunch for one us. Please don't throw me in the briar patch.

In closing, (I do apologize for the rambling but I'm not allowed to talk much at home) the tomatillo aspect.

One day I heard the unmistakable din of the Rotary flail mower in the distance, invariably mounted on a brand-new something or another... The state road crew was approaching. Luckily for me, the three of them must have been exhausted and pulled over in the wide spot in the road right before crossing the bridge. it was high noon, and they were already better than a half-mile down one side. I don't know how they can maintain the grueling pace.

  So I proceeded to ask them to not cut in the designated area, I had put 2 5 gallon buckets at what I thought were the respective ends. the supervisor was intrigued enough to walk back over and check them out. He was a little leery to try one first, but after seeing me eat a few, his curiosity won out.  The whole crew ended up coming over to try them. just a small strip, 15 or 20 feet wide by ± 60 yards. Some kind of mugwort which might be wormwood that I haven't researched yet also resides there. They agreed to just not cut the entire strip.

Told them if anyone complained they could offer up  "a weed-eatin' Hoopee with a shotgun" or "the just listed endangered, North Fork Tomatillo habitat" excuse. Lucky for me, there is way more there that's just  noticed last night. I believe they are supposed to just fall on the ground when ripe, I had found a few empty before. Going to try to let these go to maximum brightness, I'll try to remember to take a pic before I eat them.

[Ianab]

We call them Cape Gooseberries.

Once you have them in your garden they are there for ever  :D That's not a bad thing, but they will just keep randomly popping up for years. 

[DFILER2]

We call them ground cherries and they are very good, once the outer skin turns a little brown and the fruit is a yellowish color. Great for pies too.

[alan gage]

The ones around here (ground cherries) have a waxy coating on the berries that gives a bad taste if not cleaned off. They're very good when caught ripe.

Alan