Physaria alpina |
Physaria recurvata |
|
---|---|---|
Avery Peak or alpine twinpod, Avery Peak twinpod |
gaslight 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). | Annuals or, sometimes, bi-ennials; with a fine taproot; sparsely pubescent, trichomes (sessile), 3–6-rayed, rays furcate, (tuberculate throughout). |
Stems | few from base, decumbent, (arising laterally proximal to current season’s leaves), 0.3–0.8 dm. |
several from base, erect or decumbent and straggling, (branched distally, branches usually filiform), to 5 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). |
blade obovate or rhombic to broadly elliptic, 1–4.5(–6.5) cm, margins entire or lyrate-pinnatifid. |
Cauline leaves | (2–5 per stem); blade oblanceolate to spatulate, similar to basal, margins entire, (apex acute). |
(proximal petiolate, distal sessile); blade rhombic or obovate to elliptic, 0.5–2(–3) cm, margins entire or sinuate to remotely toothed. |
Racemes | loose, (3–6-flowered). |
loose. |
Flowers | sepals narrowly oblong to linear, 7–9 mm; petals (erect), spatulate, 10–12(–15) mm. |
sepals elliptic or ovate, 2.5–5.5 mm, (median pair thickened apically, cucullate); petals (yellow to orange-yellow), obovate to cuneate, 4–7 mm, (apex sometimes retuse). |
Fruiting pedicels | (widely spreading to ascending, slightly curved or straight), 7–11 mm. |
(recurved in age), 5–10(–15) mm, (slender). |
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). |
globose or subglobose, not or slightly inflated, (2–)3–5(–7) mm; valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous throughout; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules (4–)8–16(–20) per ovary; style (1–5–)2–4.5 mm. |
Seeds | flattened. |
flattened. |
2n | = 10. |
|
Physaria alpina |
Physaria recurvata |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Jul. | Flowering Mar–Apr. |
Habitat | Whitish or red substrates from limestone or dolomite, ridge crests, rocky alpine tundra and open areas | Light dry soils, limestone chip, open rocky areas, among boulders, roadsides, pastures, stony open sandy prairies, dry streamside meadows, calcareous soils, limestone outcroppings, scrub-oak grassland flats |
Elevation | 3500-4000 m (11500-13100 ft) | 150-700 m (500-2300 ft) |
Distribution |
CO
|
TX |
Discussion | Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Physaria recurvata is known from the Edwards Plateau. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. | FNA vol. 7, p. 660. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Vesicaria recurvata, Lesquerella recurvata | |
Name authority | Rollins: Brittonia 33: 339. (1981) | (Engelmann ex A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 327. (2002) |
Web links |