Physaria alpestris |
Physaria densiflora |
|
---|---|---|
alpine twin-pod, Washington bladder-pod, Washington twin-pod |
denseflower bladderpod, low bladderpod |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex usually simple, rarely branched, (cespitose); (silvery) pubescent throughout, trichomes several-rayed, rays (1- or) 2-bifurcate, (low-umbonate, tubercles relatively few, small). | Annuals or biennials; caudex simple or branched, (relatively small, cespitose); densely pubescent, trichomes (spreading, sessile or short-stalked), 5–7-rayed, rays distinct and simple, (tuberculate, finely tubercled with a U-shaped notch on one side). |
Stems | several from base, decumbent to ascending, (unbranched), 0.5–1.5 dm. |
simple or few to several from base, erect or decumbent, (rarely branched, usually leafy), to 4 dm. |
Basal leaves | (petiole slender); blade obovate, 3–5 cm (width 10–20 mm, base tapering abruptly to petiole), margins entire, (apex rarely slightly acute). |
blade lyrate-pinnatifid, 1–7 cm, margins entire or shallowly dentate. |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm (width 3–5 mm), margins entire. |
(sessile or shortly petiolate); blade narrowly obovate to elliptic, 0.5–6 cm, margins entire, repand, or shallowly dentate. |
Racemes | subcorymbose. |
dense, (elongated in fruit, often subtended by distal cauline leaves). |
Flowers | sepals oblong, 8–10 mm; petals spatulate, 12–14 mm. |
sepals elliptic, 3.7–7.2 mm, (lateral pair somewhat cucullate, median pair thickened apically); petals (yellow to orange-yellow), obovate to obdeltate, (4.5–)7–10(–11) mm, (tapering to short claw, apex often emarginate). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate, straight), 5–10 mm. |
(usually divaricate-spreading, straight or slightly curved, delicate, sometimes drooping, especially on herbarium specimens), 7–10 mm, (somewhat rigid). |
Fruits | didymous, mostly highly inflated (strongly flattened at least in 1/2 toward replum), 14–18 × 14–18 mm, (papery, basal sinus slightly notched, apical open, shallow); valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), evenly pubescent; replum lanceolate, 7–10 mm, width 1.5–2.5 mm, as wide as or wider than fruit, apex acute to acuminate; ovules 8–10 per ovary; style 5–7 mm. |
(sessile or substipitate), globose or broadly obovate, not inflated, 4–6 mm, (smooth); valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules 8–16 per ovary; style 2–5 mm. |
Seeds | flattened, (2–3 mm). |
flattened. |
2n | = 48–52, 52, 64, 67–70. |
= 14. |
Physaria alpestris |
Physaria densiflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Alpine scree, rocky ridges, talus slopes, volcanic sands and gravel, serpentine gravel, granitic slopes, mountain shrub, subalpine fir, and whitebark pine communities | Sandy, granitic, or calcareous soils, sandy ledges, limestone outcrops, rocky prairies, uplands |
Elevation | (700-)1300-2400 m ((2300-)4300-7900 ft) | 30-400 m (100-1300 ft) |
Distribution |
WA
|
TX |
Discussion | Alyssum densiflorum (A. Gray) Kuntze (1891), not Desfontaines (1808) is an illegitimate name, sometimes found in synonymy with Physaria densiflora. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 633. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lesquerella alpestris | Vesicaria densiflora, Lesquerella densiflora |
Name authority | Suksdorf: W. Amer. Sci. 15: 58. (1906) | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 322. (2002) |
Web links |