Physaria alpestris |
Physaria obcordata |
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alpine twin-pod, Washington bladder-pod, Washington twin-pod |
Dudley bluffs twinpod, Piceance twinpod |
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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; caudex branched, (thick, covered with persistent, overlapping leaf bases); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (stellate-scalelike), several-rayed, rays fused (webbed) to tips. |
Stems | several from base, decumbent to ascending, (unbranched), 0.5–1.5 dm. |
several from base, erect to decumbent, (unbranched, fertile stems from among basal leaves), 1.2–1.8 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). |
(erect, not rosulate); blade broadly oblanceolate, 4–8 cm, margins entire or shallowly sinuate-dentate, (apex acute). |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm (width 3–5 mm), margins entire. |
(proximal petiolate); blade narrowly lanceolate, similar to basal in size, (distal with cuneate base), margins entire. |
Racemes | subcorymbose. |
loose, (elongated in fruit). |
Flowers | sepals oblong, 8–10 mm; petals spatulate, 12–14 mm. |
sepals (greenish yellow), elliptic, often broadly so, 4.8–7.1 mm; petals oblanceolate, 6.8–9.8 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate, straight), 5–10 mm. |
(widely spreading to recurved), 1–1.5 cm. |
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. |
(usually pendent), slightly didymous apically, obcordate, slightly inflated, 4–7 × 3–6 mm, (papery, basal sinus absent, apical sinus evident to nearly absent); valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), pubescent; replum broadly obovate to suborbicular, 4–5 mm, as wide as or wider than fruit, margins entire; ovules usually 4 (rarely 6–8) per ovary; style (2.5–)3–4(–5) mm. |
Seeds | flattened, (2–3 mm). |
plump. |
2n | = 48–52, 52, 64, 67–70. |
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Physaria alpestris |
Physaria obcordata |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | 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 | Steep slopes, fine chiprock, shaley hillsides |
Elevation | (700-)1300-2400 m ((2300-)4300-7900 ft) | 1800-2300 m (5900-7500 ft) |
Distribution |
WA
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CO
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. Physaria obcordata is known from the Thirteenmile Creek Tongue and the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 653. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lesquerella alpestris | |
Name authority | Suksdorf: W. Amer. Sci. 15: 58. (1906) | Rollins: J. Arnold Arbor. 64: 495, fig. 1. (1983) |
Web links |