winter cherry

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

win′ter cher′ry, 

1. Plant Biology Also called Chinese lantern plant. a Eurasian ground cherry, Physalis alkekengi, of the nightshade family, bearing fruit enclosed in a showy, orange-red, inflated calyx.
2. Plant Biology the red, berrylike fruit of this plant.
Also called alkekengi. 
• 1540–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

winter cherry noun

1. a Eurasian solanaceous plant, Physalis alkekengi, cultivated for its ornamental inflated papery orange-red calyx
2. the calyx of this plant

See also Chinese lantern