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Avery Peak or alpine twinpod, Avery Peak twinpod

frosty bladderpod, Piceance bladderpod, Picenace bladderpod

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
from FNA
CO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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
P. acutifolia, P. alpestris, P. angustifolia, P. arctica, P. arenosa, P. argyraea, P. arizonica, P. aurea, P. bellii, P. brassicoides, P. calcicola, P. calderi, P. carinata, P. chambersii, P. cinerea, P. condensata, P. congesta, P. cordiformis, P. curvipes, P. densiflora, P. didymocarpa, P. dornii, P. douglasii, P. eburniflora, P. engelmannii, P. eriocarpa, P. fendleri, P. filiformis, P. floribunda, P. fremontii, P. garrettii, P. geyeri, P. globosa, P. gooddingii, P. gordonii, P. gracilis, P. grahamii, P. hemiphysaria, P. hitchcockii, P. humilis, P. integrifolia, P. intermedia, P. kingii, P. klausii, P. lata, P. lepidota, P. lesicii, P. lindheimeri, P. ludoviciana, P. macrocarpa, P. mcvaughiana, P. montana, P. multiceps, P. navajoensis, P. nelsonii, P. newberryi, P. obcordata, P. obdeltata, P. occidentalis, P. oregona, P. ovalifolia, P. pachyphylla, P. pallida, P. parviflora, P. parvula, P. pendula, P. pinetorum, P. prostrata, P. pruinosa, P. pulvinata, P. purpurea, P. pycnantha, P. rectipes, P. recurvata, P. reediana, P. rollinsii, P. saximontana, P. scrotiformis, P. sessilis, P. spatulata, P. subumbellata, P. tenella, P. thamnophila, P. tumulosa, P. valida, P. vicina, P. vitulifera
P. acutifolia, P. alpestris, P. alpina, P. angustifolia, P. arctica, P. arenosa, P. argyraea, P. arizonica, P. aurea, P. bellii, P. brassicoides, P. calcicola, P. calderi, P. carinata, P. chambersii, P. cinerea, P. condensata, P. congesta, P. cordiformis, P. curvipes, P. densiflora, P. didymocarpa, P. dornii, P. douglasii, P. eburniflora, P. engelmannii, P. eriocarpa, P. fendleri, P. filiformis, P. floribunda, P. fremontii, P. garrettii, P. geyeri, P. globosa, P. gooddingii, P. gordonii, P. gracilis, P. grahamii, P. hemiphysaria, P. hitchcockii, P. humilis, P. integrifolia, P. intermedia, P. kingii, P. klausii, P. lata, P. lepidota, P. lesicii, P. lindheimeri, P. ludoviciana, P. macrocarpa, P. mcvaughiana, P. montana, P. multiceps, P. navajoensis, P. nelsonii, P. newberryi, P. obcordata, P. obdeltata, P. occidentalis, P. oregona, P. ovalifolia, P. pachyphylla, P. pallida, P. parvula, P. pendula, P. pinetorum, P. prostrata, P. pruinosa, P. pulvinata, P. purpurea, P. pycnantha, P. rectipes, P. recurvata, P. reediana, P. rollinsii, P. saximontana, P. scrotiformis, P. sessilis, P. spatulata, P. subumbellata, P. tenella, P. thamnophila, P. tumulosa, P. valida, P. vicina, P. vitulifera
Synonyms Lesquerella parviflora
Name authority Rollins: Brittonia 33: 339. (1981) (Rollins) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 326. (2002)
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