Physaria alpina |
Physaria parviflora |
|
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Avery Peak or alpine twinpod, Avery Peak twinpod |
frosty bladderpod, Piceance bladderpod, Picenace bladderpod |
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Habit | Perennials; (with a long taproot), caudex usually buried, simple, (enlarged, covered with marcescent leaf bases, crown rosulate and horizontal to somewhat ascending, forming a dense crown at apex of caudex); (silvery) pubescent throughout, trichomes (sessile or stipitate), 5–8-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, (rounded to umbonate, strongly tuberculate, less so or smooth over center). | Perennials; caudex simple or branched; densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (irregularly radiate), 6–8-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, fused at base. |
Stems | few from base, decumbent, (arising laterally proximal to current season’s leaves), 0.3–0.8 dm. |
several from base, prostrate to decumbent, (usually unbranched, rarely branched distally), 1–3 dm. |
Basal leaves | (petiole slender); blade broadly obovate, or deltate to ovate or narrower, 1.5–3.5 cm, (base abruptly to gradually narrowed to petiole), margins entire or obscurely few-toothed, (apex usually obtuse, nearly acute in narrower leaves). |
(tufted); blade broadly obovate, 1–2 cm, margins entire or with 1 or 2 broad teeth, (apex rounded to obtuse). |
Cauline leaves | (2–5 per stem); blade oblanceolate to spatulate, similar to basal, margins entire, (apex acute). |
blade oblanceolate to nearly oblong, similar to basal, (base cuneate), margins entire. |
Racemes | loose, (3–6-flowered). |
(secund), loose, (elongated in fruit). |
Flowers | sepals narrowly oblong to linear, 7–9 mm; petals (erect), spatulate, 10–12(–15) mm. |
sepals (yellowish), elliptic to lanceolate, (2–)3–4 mm; petals spatulate, (3.9–)5–7 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | (widely spreading to ascending, slightly curved or straight), 7–11 mm. |
(recurved), 6–8(–12) mm. |
Fruits | (usually purplish in age), didymous, irregular and somewhat angular, not highly inflated, 4–11 × 10–13 mm, (coriaceous, papery, shallowly grooved distally and on sides, tapered and narrowed toward replum, base obtuse to truncate, apex with broad sinus to nearly truncate); valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), densely pubescent, not silvery; replum elliptic to obovate, as wide as or wider than fruit, base rounded, margins sparsely pubescent or glabrous, apex rounded (with funicles); ovules 4 per ovary; style 5–7 mm, (glabrous). |
(usually pendent), elliptic to subglobose, usually slightly compressed (latiseptate), 3–4 mm; valves densely pubescent, sometimes with scattered trichomes inside; ovules 4 per ovary; style ca. 3 mm. |
Seeds | flattened. |
somewhat flattened. |
Physaria alpina |
Physaria parviflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Jul. | Flowering Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Whitish or red substrates from limestone or dolomite, ridge crests, rocky alpine tundra and open areas | Shale of steep slopes, rock crevices, ledges, canyon sides, shale-marlstone |
Elevation | 3500-4000 m (11500-13100 ft) | 2100-2700 m (6900-8900 ft) |
Distribution |
CO
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CO
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Physaria parviflora is known from the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation, Rio Blanco County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 657. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lesquerella parviflora | |
Name authority | Rollins: Brittonia 33: 339. (1981) | (Rollins) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 326. (2002) |
Web links |