Physalis peruviana an exotic exported fruit, and is favored in breeding and cultivation programs in many countries. "P. peruviana" is closely related to the tomatillo and to the Chinese lantern, also members of the genus "Physalis". As a member of the plant family Solanaceae, it is more distantly related to a large number of edible plants, including tomato, eggplant, potato, and other members of the nightshades. Despite its name, it is not botanically related to gooseberries such as the "Ribes" gooseberry, Indian gooseberry, or Chinese gooseberry. "P. peruviana" is an annual in temperate locations, but perennial in the tropics. As a perennial,
Gooseberry due to their use in a sauce for mackerel in old French cuisine. In Britain, gooseberries may informally be called "goosegogs". The specific epithet "uva-crispa" literally means "curved grape". "Gooseberry bush" was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are "born under a gooseberry bush". The gooseberry is a straggling bush growing to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in height and width, the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots. The bell-shaped flowers