plant ids - horse nettle

I have 2 questions. First, I have a plant in my area that looks a lot like ground cherries. Are there dangerous look alike p plants or should this be ok to eat? I'm in southeastern PA. Secondly can anyone ID the plant in this picture.

Thanks,

Dave

Dave Friday wrote:First, I have a plant in my area that looks a lot like ground cherries. Are there dangerous look alike p plants or should this be ok to eat?

I don't know if there are dangerous look alikes but I did eat something that looked like a ground cherry/tomatillo/ husk cherry type of thing. It didn't taste as good as I was expecting so I spit it out and I did get some nasty heartburn later. So, beware.

Liche Tomato?
The ones I've seen have red fruit with a sweet cherry/tomato taste with alot of tough seeds.
I'd be careful though, if it's nightshade it could be deadly poisonous.

Dave,

It looks like something from the Nightshade family, probably something in the nightshade genus (Solanum). Most likely, the fruits contain the glycoalkaloid poison solanine, the same substance found in green potato peels (Solanum tuberosum). The fruits are probably bitter tasting and technically poisonous, but like green potato peels, not harmful in small amounts. I would taste the fruit to see if it is bitter or not. If its not bitter then it is likely edible, but would be good to identify it and research it before using it in quantity. If it is bitter tasting, then it is not likely food, but it would still be nice to idenifty the species, just to know.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Elpel
http://www.hopspress.com/Books/Botany_in_a_Day.htm

It's horsenettle, can't say if it's actually toxic, but it tastes pretty bad.

Yes, it's horse nettle and it's considered toxic