Physaria bellii |
Physaria lindheimeri |
|
---|---|---|
Bell's or Front Range twinpod, Bell's twinpod, Front Range twinpod |
Lindheimer's bladderpod |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex simple, (relatively large); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile, appressed), rays furcate, fused at base. | Annuals or biennials; with a fine taproot; densely pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), 4–7-rayed, rays usually furcate at base, sometimes bifurcate, (rough-tuberculate throughout). |
Stems | simple from base, decumbent to nearly prostrate, 0.5–1.3 dm. |
several from base, erect or outer decumbent, (often several-branched, branches slender and flexuous), to 8 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). |
blade pinnatisect to repand, 3–9(–14) cm, margins entire. |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate to broadly obovate, 1–2.5 cm, margins entire. |
(sometimes secund, proximal usually petiolate, distal sessile); blade elliptic, 1–6 cm, (distal with cuneate base), margins entire or deeply dentate. |
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 elliptic to oblong, 3–5.5 mm, (median pair slightly thickened apically, cucullate); petals (sometimes drying slightly purplish), suborbicular or broadly ovate, 4.5–7(–9) mm, (narrowing gradually to short claw). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending to widely spreading, slightly sigmoid to curved), 7–12 mm. |
(horizontal or recurved and ascending at tip, sometimes loosely sigmoid), (5–)10–20 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. |
globose or broadly ellipsoid, not or slightly inflated, (4–)5–8 mm, (smooth); valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules (8–)12–16(–20) per ovary; style (1.5–)2–3(–4) mm. |
Seeds | compressed. |
flattened. |
2n | = 8. |
= 12. |
Physaria bellii |
Physaria lindheimeri |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun(-Jul). | Flowering Dec–Apr. |
Habitat | Dark shale, road cuts, ridge crests, washes | Heavy, black, claylike soils, or lighter, sandy soils, thickets, field-margins, roadsides, coastal prairies |
Elevation | 1500-1800 m (4900-5900 ft) | 20-800 m (100-2600 ft) |
Distribution |
CO
|
TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas) |
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.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 628. | FNA vol. 7, p. 649. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Vesicaria lindheimeri, Alyssum lindheimeri, Lesquerella gracilis var. pilosa, Lesquerella lindheimeri | |
Name authority | G. A. Mulligan: Canad. J. Bot. 44: 1662, fig. 1, plate 1, fig. 3. (1966) | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 325. (2002) |
Web links |