Physalis hederifolia is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common name ivyleaf groundcherry. It is native to California, the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in rocky, dry desert and mountain habitat. This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a hairy, branching stem 4 to 32 inches long. The gray-green oval leaves are 1 to 2 inches long and have smooth or bluntly toothed edges. The flowers growing from the leaf axils are bell-shaped and are about a half inch long. They are yellow with five brown smudges in the throats. The five-lobed calyx of sepals at the base of the flower enlarges as the fruit develops, becoming an inflated, veined nearly spherical structure 1 to 1.5 inches long which contains the berry. There are several wild varieties of this species.