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Bell's or Front Range twinpod, Bell's twinpod, Front Range twinpod

Hitchcock's bladderpod

Habit Perennials; caudex simple, (relatively large); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile, appressed), rays furcate, fused at base. Perennials; (forming loose mats); caudex (buried), branched; densely pubescent, trichomes (short-stalked), 4–6-rayed, rays distinct, bifurcate, (rough-tuberculate).
Stems

simple from base, decumbent to nearly prostrate, 0.5–1.3 dm.

few to several from base, prostrate to erect or spreading, 0.05–0.5(–1.2) dm.

Basal leaves

(strongly rosulate; shortly petiolate);

blade broadly obovate, 1.5–7.5 (width 7.5–26 mm, base gradually tapering to petiole), margins shallowly dentate, (apex obtuse).

(petiole and blade differentiated or not);

blade spatulate to elliptic or linear or narrowly oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) cm, margins entire.

Cauline leaves

blade oblanceolate to broadly obovate, 1–2.5 cm, margins entire.

similar to basal, smaller.

Racemes

dense.

dense.

Flowers

sepals (pale yellow or yellow-green), narrowly lanceolate to narrowly deltate, 4–8 mm;

petals yellow, broadly spatulate to obovate, 9–13 mm, (not clawed).

sepals narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2.8–6 mm;

petals (pale to deep yellow), narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 5–9 mm, (claw undifferentiated from blade).

Fruiting pedicels

(divaricate-ascending to widely spreading, slightly sigmoid to curved), 7–12 mm.

(ascending, straight or slightly curved), 2–6 mm.

Fruits

didymous, slightly flattened (contrary to replum) to uncompressed, 4–9 × 2–8 mm, (strongly coriaceous, apical and basal sinuses narrow, deep);

valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), pubescent, trichomes appressed;

replum narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly linear-oblong, as wide as or wider than fruit, apex obtuse;

ovules 4 per ovary;

style more than 3 mm.

(sessile or substipitate), globose or subglobose to obovoid, not or slightly inflated, 3–6 mm, (firm, apex acute);

valves (reddish in age, not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous throughout;

replum as wide as or wider than fruit;

ovules 4–8 per ovary;

style 1.7–6 mm.

Seeds

compressed.

flattened.

2n

= 8.

Physaria bellii

Physaria hitchcockii

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun(-Jul).
Habitat Dark shale, road cuts, ridge crests, washes
Elevation 1500-1800 m (4900-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Physaria bellii is often found in shale and limestone soils of the Fountain/Ingleside, Lykins, Niobrara, and Pierre formations. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

The taxonomic treatment of Physaria hitchcockii has varied widely over the years. Molecular study (pers. obs.) has shown no direct relationship to P. tumulosa; morphologically, though, P. navajoensis and P. tumulosa appear closely related. Infraspecific taxonomy is based on the presence of a discernable petiole and whether or not the caudex is elastically elongated. The subspecies recognized here are usually geographically coherent, except that collections from the Table Cliff Plateau are more similar to subsp. hitchcockii, disjunct in Nevada, than they are to the very nearly sympatric subsp. rubicundula.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Caudices elongated and elastic; basal leaves: petiole not differentiated from blade, blades linear-oblanceolate; Aquarius, Markagunt, and Paunsaugunt plateaus, Utah (limited to the pink member of the limestone Wasatch (Claron) Formation).
subsp. rubicundula
1. Caudices elongated or not, elastic or not; basal leaves: petiole differentiated (sometimes weakly) from blade, blades oblanceolate to obovate; Nevada, Utah
→ 2
2. Plants forming tufts; caudices not elongated, not elastic; fruits 2.6-3.8 mm wide; Table Cliff Plateau, Utah (limited to the white member of the limestone Wasatch (Claron) Formation) and limestones of the Sheep Range and Spring Mountains, Nevada.
subsp. hitchcockii
2. Plants forming soft mats; caudices elongated, elastic (creeping); fruits 1.7-3 mm wide; Grant, Quinn Canyon, and Schell Creek ranges, Nevada.
subsp. confluens
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 628. FNA vol. 7, p. 643.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria
Sibling taxa
P. acutifolia, P. alpestris, P. alpina, P. angustifolia, P. arctica, P. arenosa, P. argyraea, P. arizonica, P. aurea, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
P. hitchcockii subsp. confluens, P. hitchcockii subsp. hitchcockii, P. hitchcockii subsp. rubicundula
Synonyms Lesquerella hitchcockii
Name authority G. A. Mulligan: Canad. J. Bot. 44: 1662, fig. 1, plate 1, fig. 3. (1966) (Munz) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 324. (2002)
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