China Rhyming’s Most Desired Christmas Decorations – Yes, There’s Actually Something Called a Chinese Lantern Tree Plant!!

This ad from 1897 from John Lewis Childs of Floral Park, New York. The ad proclaims, “Most ornamental window or garden plant known, and a delicious fruit”. Sometimes a rather meek orange plant, a proper Chinese Lantern plant should be Physalis alkekengi, a relative of the gooseberry, and often referred to as Chinese Lantern or Japanese Lantern (the Japanese call the plant hozuki). Despite its name it’s actually a native plant to southern Europe that spread to Asia and was cultivated there due to its resemblance to traditional lanterns.

Physalis alkekengi