Physaria alpestris |
Physaria pallida |
|
---|---|---|
alpine twin-pod, Washington bladder-pod, Washington twin-pod |
white 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 (winter); with a fine taproot; sparsely pubescent, trichomes (minute), 3- or 4-rayed, rays furcate or, sometimes, trifurcate. |
Stems | several from base, decumbent to ascending, (unbranched), 0.5–1.5 dm. |
few to several from base, erect, (from basal leaf cluster, branched distally, flowering branches slender, subtended by bracts), 3–6 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 oblanceolate or broadly obovate, to 10 cm, margins usually sinuate-dentate or entire, sometimes lobed. |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm (width 3–5 mm), margins entire. |
(proximal shortly petiolate, distal sessile); blade oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, similar to basal, (distal with base slightly cuneate). |
Racemes | subcorymbose. |
paniculate, (rachises and pedicels more densely pubescent than proximal leaves). |
Flowers | sepals oblong, 8–10 mm; petals spatulate, 12–14 mm. |
sepals elliptic, 3–7 mm, (median pair slightly thickened apically, cucullate); petals (white), broadly ovate, to 12 mm, (narrowing gradually to short claw). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate, straight), 5–10 mm. |
(widely divaricate-ascending and straight, or slightly recurved), 10–15 mm, (slender, pubescent). |
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. |
(widely spreading to nearly pendent in age, shortly stipitate), globose or subglobose, not or slightly inflated, 3–10 mm; valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules 8–12 per ovary; style ca. 2 mm, (slender, fragile). |
Seeds | flattened, (2–3 mm). |
flattened. |
2n | = 48–52, 52, 64, 67–70. |
= 12. |
Physaria alpestris |
Physaria pallida |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Alpine scree, rocky ridges, talus slopes, volcanic sands and gravel, serpentine gravel, granitic slopes, mountain shrub, subalpine fir, and whitebark pine communities | Grassy openings of small glade prairies, outcrops |
Elevation | (700-)1300-2400 m ((2300-)4300-7900 ft) | 90 m (300 ft) |
Distribution |
WA
|
TX |
Discussion | Of conservation concern. Physaria pallida is known from the Weches Formation in San Augustine County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 656. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lesquerella alpestris | Vesicaria grandiflora var. pallida, Alyssum pallidum, Lesquerella pallida, Vesicaria pallida |
Name authority | Suksdorf: W. Amer. Sci. 15: 58. (1906) | (Torrey & A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 326. (2002) |
Web links |