Plants emerging from rhizomes lack cotyledons. Alternate, ovate, 1-3 inches long, margins are either continuous and untoothed or shallowly indented. Hairs are short and dense along the margins and on the lower leaf surface, but few and scattered on the upper surface. Deeply buried thick rhizomes. Erect, highly branched, with hairs.
Petals are yellow with a purple center.
The berry is yellow when mature. Perennial from rhizomes, yellow and purple flowers, stems and leaves hairy, papery case surrounding the berry. Additionally, the berries of smooth groundcherry are orange, red, or purple when mature, unlike the yellow berries of clammy groundcherry.