Jerusalem Cherry is not from Jerusalem
and it is not a Cherry. Hence the name.
It is a Tomato, Solanum pseudocapsicum ; although the geneology is a bit muddled.
Popular around Christmas for the bright red berries contrasting with dark green foliage; they are also called Winter Cherry. After the December activities, the plants most usually get discarded with the tinsel, although with proper care and a good pruning in Spring, you could keep it attractive for a number of years. It is just not easy growing tomatoes indoors. Winter Cherry needs the sunniest window and dependable steady moisture. The recurved petals are white or pale blue. The berries start green, ripening through yellowish before becoming cheerily red like Santa's suit.
How ever one celebrates the Winter Solstice ; as the Long Night, Christmas or Yule, Hanukkah or Dong Zhi, it is quite often a merry botanical time, featuring Tannenbaums, Cedar boughs, Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe and the Yule Log ; to whose ranks we can happily accept
Jerusalem Cherry as a bright and cheerful ornamental.
At Loblaw's, Sobeys's, Zehr's and most food suppliers you will see ranks and banks of these attractive plants that are bought and sold by the tens of thousands continent-wide as Christmas gets closer.
Don't do a Google search on them. Those doom-sayers and nattering nabobs of negativity describe Jerusalem Cherry as if it was deadly.
I wish they would stop it. When refering to Solanum as Nightshade it quickly becomes Deadly Nightshade which is Atropa not Solanum. I could remind them that their Housecat whether Persian, American Shorthair or Sphynx is in the same family as the Bengal Tiger.
Winter or Jerusalem Cherry are meant only as ornamentals.
They are not a food item. Adults can take care of themselves but do protect the children.
The berries are not deadly but a few could cause an upset stomach. More than a few and you will be Squeezing the Charmin'.
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