Annuals Dictionary: Nicandra
Potato family
Solanaceae
Ny-kan’dra. A single strong-growing species from Peru that has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in tropical America and U.S. Often grown in the garden for its dried seed cases.
Description
Leaves alternate, ovalish, with toothed margins. Flowers large, calyx 5-parted, stamens 5. Fruit a 3- to 5-celled, many seeded berry enclosed in an inflated calyx.
How to Grow
Sow seeds indoors, ? in. (3.2 mm) deep in light soil, in early spring. Set out hardened-off seedlings 2-3 weeks before last frost. Thin plants to 3-4 ft. (90-120 cm) apart. Grow in full sun. Relegate large, rough-looking plants to back of the garden. Prefers warm weather.
Nicandra Physalodes
Apple-of-Peru . Spreading, 4-8 ft. (1.2-2.4 m) high. Flowers solitary, tubular, blue, or violet and white, 1-2 in. (2.5-5.0 cm) wide, on curving stalks. Occasionally offered as Shoofly. Perennial grown as a half-hardy annual.