There are five species of groundcherries (Physalis spp.) that are native to the northeast out of twenty-nine total listed by the USDA (with four of those non-native). The fruits of groundcherries are a personal favorite, though it is worth keeping in mind that the rest of the plant is toxic, including to animals. Aside from being delicious, the fruits have sometimes been used by Native Americans medicinally and at least one study seems to support that. Groundcherries may be delicious food, but are also often considered a problematic weed in the production of other foods, like soybeans, where they may invade fields.
One cool thing about groundcherries as a caterpillar host plant is that the Subflexus straw moth larvae uses the secondary toxic chemicals as immune boosters and fights off pathogens. Unfortunately, this was the only caterpillar I could find that uses groundcherries as a host. This may simply be due to the large number of articles about the straw moth drowning out the rest.
The five northeast natives are:
Virginia groundcherry (Physalis virginiana)
Longleaf groundcherry (Physalis longifolia)
Clammy groundcherry (Physalis heterophylla)
Strawberry-tomato (Physalis grisea)
Husk tomato (Physalis pubescens)
Further Reading:
https://phys.org/news/2016-08-moth-advantage-defensive-compounds-physalis.html
Map Source:
USDA Plants Profile