Physalis angulata is an erect herbaceous annual plant belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. Its leaves are dark green and roughly ovate, often with serrate margins. The flowers are five-sided and pale yellow; the yellow-orange fruits are borne inside a balloon-like calyx. The exact native range is uncertain. The species may be naturally endemic to Australia or the Americas or the native range may encompass both the Americas and Australia. It is now widely distributed and naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.

The plant produces edible fruit that can be eaten raw, cooked, jammed, etc. However, all other parts of the plant are poisonous. Members of the Toba-Pilagá ethnic group of Gran Chaco traditionally eat the ripe fruits raw.

Unripe raw fruits, flowers, leaves, and stems of the plant contain solanine and solanidine alkaloids that may cause poisoning if ingested by humans, cattle, or horses.