Herbs, perennial, spreading, rhizomatous, glabrous or variously pubescent, hairs eglandular or glandular. Stems decumbent to ± prostrate or suberect, branching from base and nodes. Leaves alternate, subsessile or petiolate; blade simple, ± undulate, entire to deeply lobed. Inflorescences axillary, (1–)2–4(–5)-flowered clusters; pedicels slender, 1–3 cm, elongating to 2.5–3.5 and becoming curved in fruit. Flowers 5-merous; calyx accrescent, campanulate, 5-lobed, in fruit not inflated and shorter than berry; corolla creamy white to light yellow, rotate; stamens equal; filaments inserted near base of corolla tube; anthers basifixed, oblong, dehiscing by longitudinal slits; ovary 2-carpellate; style straight to slightly curved, slender; stigma capitate. Fruits dry berries, globose, tightly invested by, not enclosed by, accrescent calyx. Seeds flattened, reniform rugose-reticulate. x = 12.

Distribution

sc, sw United States, n Mexico.

Discussion

Species 10 (8 in the flora).

Chamaesaracha is commonly encountered in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts and arid grasslands of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is distinguished from other Physalideae Miers by the dry berry and closely appressed, accrescent calyx that does not completely enclose the fruit, and by rugose-reticulate seeds. Chamaesaracha nana (A. Gray) A. Gray was transferred to Leucophysalis (J. E. Averett 1970). Chamaesaracha geohintonii Averett & B. L. Turner and C. rzedowskiana Hunziker occur in Mexico.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Chamaesaracha coniodes, Chamaesaracha coronopus, Chamaesaracha crenata, Chamaesaracha darcyi, Chamaesaracha edwardsiana, Chamaesaracha pallida, Chamaesaracha sordida, Chamaesaracha villosa

Key

1	Leaf blades 4–10 times as long as wide; herbage glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs white and short-stellate.	Chamaesaracha coronopus
1	Leaf blades 2–5 times as long as wide; herbage glabrous to densely pubescent, hairs simple, 1-branched, or dendritic.	> 2
2	Herbage glabrous or glabrate.	Chamaesaracha edwardsiana
2	Herbage pubescent (rarely glabrous in C. pallida).	> 3
3	Herbage with hairs dendritic, eglandular (rarely glabrous in C. pallida).	> 4
4	Leaf blades broadly lanceolate to rhombic, margins entire to sinuate or lobed.	Chamaesaracha pallida
4	Leaf blades linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate to rhombic, margins shallowly to deeply lobed (sometimes only a few lobes).	> 5
5	Leaf blade margins deeply lobed; Oklahoma, nc Texas.	Chamaesaracha darcyi
5	Leaf blade margins shallowly to deeply lobed; Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.	Chamaesaracha coniodes
3	Herbage pubescent with hairs simple or 1-branched, glandular or eglandular.	> 6
6	Stems 1–3 dm; leaf blades 0.4–2 cm wide; Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.	> 7
7	Herbage densely glandular-pubescent; leaf blade margins sinuate or lobed.	Chamaesaracha sordida
7	Herbage densely pubescent, hairs glandular and eglandular; leaf blade margins ± lobed.	Chamaesaracha coniodes
6	Stems (1.5–)2–5 dm; leaf blades 1.5–3.5 cm wide; Big Bend region of Texas.	> 8
8	Herbage not villous, hairs simple, long and eglandular intermixed with shorter glandular; petioles 1/3 total leaf length.	Chamaesaracha crenata
8	Herbage villous, hairs mostly elongate, eglandular, 1-branched at tip; petioles to 1/4 total leaf length.	Chamaesaracha villosa