• Family : SOLANACEAE
  (Nightshade Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BAINGAN FAMILY (बैंगन फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : SOLANACEAE
• Basionym : Atropa physalodes L.
• Synonym(s) : Physalis daturifolia Lam.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Nicandra physalodes (L.) Gaertn.
• Common name : Shoo-Fly Plant, Apple-of-Peru
• Vernacular name : Oomathan (Malayalam)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : All types of forests
• Comments / notes : Weed; common on hills on fallow fields and agricultural lands
• Flower, Fruit : July-February
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Kolar district, Chamarajanagar district
  • Kerala : Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district, Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Karur district, Krishnagiri district, Madurai district, Namakkal district, Pudukkottai district, Sivaganga district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Vellore district
• Native : Central America
• World Distribution : Tropics
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Nicandra physalodes. Downloaded on 3 June 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)