Physaria alpestris |
Physaria hitchcockii |
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alpine twin-pod, Washington bladder-pod, Washington twin-pod |
Hitchcock's bladderpod |
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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). | Perennials; (forming loose mats); caudex (buried), branched; densely pubescent, trichomes (short-stalked), 4–6-rayed, rays distinct, bifurcate, (rough-tuberculate). | ||||||||
Stems | several from base, decumbent to ascending, (unbranched), 0.5–1.5 dm. |
few to several from base, prostrate to erect or spreading, 0.05–0.5(–1.2) dm. |
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Basal leaves | (petiole slender); blade obovate, 3–5 cm (width 10–20 mm, base tapering abruptly to petiole), margins entire, (apex rarely slightly acute). |
(petiole and blade differentiated or not); blade spatulate to elliptic or linear or narrowly oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) cm, margins entire. |
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Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm (width 3–5 mm), margins entire. |
similar to basal, smaller. |
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Racemes | subcorymbose. |
dense. |
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Flowers | sepals oblong, 8–10 mm; petals spatulate, 12–14 mm. |
sepals narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2.8–6 mm; petals (pale to deep yellow), narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 5–9 mm, (claw undifferentiated from blade). |
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Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate, straight), 5–10 mm. |
(ascending, straight or slightly curved), 2–6 mm. |
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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 subglobose to obovoid, not or slightly inflated, 3–6 mm, (firm, apex acute); valves (reddish in age, not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous throughout; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules 4–8 per ovary; style 1.7–6 mm. |
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Seeds | flattened, (2–3 mm). |
flattened. |
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2n | = 48–52, 52, 64, 67–70. |
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Physaria alpestris |
Physaria hitchcockii |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | |||||||||
Habitat | Alpine scree, rocky ridges, talus slopes, volcanic sands and gravel, serpentine gravel, granitic slopes, mountain shrub, subalpine fir, and whitebark pine communities | |||||||||
Elevation | (700-)1300-2400 m ((2300-)4300-7900 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
WA
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NV; UT |
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Discussion | Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora). The taxonomic treatment of Physaria hitchcockii has varied widely over the years. Molecular study (pers. obs.) has shown no direct relationship to P. tumulosa; morphologically, though, P. navajoensis and P. tumulosa appear closely related. Infraspecific taxonomy is based on the presence of a discernable petiole and whether or not the caudex is elastically elongated. The subspecies recognized here are usually geographically coherent, except that collections from the Table Cliff Plateau are more similar to subsp. hitchcockii, disjunct in Nevada, than they are to the very nearly sympatric subsp. rubicundula. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 643. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Lesquerella alpestris | Lesquerella hitchcockii | ||||||||
Name authority | Suksdorf: W. Amer. Sci. 15: 58. (1906) | (Munz) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 324. (2002) | ||||||||
Web links |