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

White Mountain bladderpod

Habit Perennials; caudex simple, (relatively large); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile, appressed), rays furcate, fused at base. Perennials; caudex simple or branched; densely pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), 6–8-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, (tuberculate, less so on outer layers).
Stems

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

simple or few from base, ascending to erect, (0.5–)1–2(–3.5) 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 tapering to blade);

blade rhombic to elliptic and irregularly angular, sometimes spatulate to oblanceolate, 1.5–7.5(–10) cm, margins entire.

Cauline leaves

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

(not or loosely overlapping, petiolate or distal sessile);

blade spatulate to oblanceolate, 1–4 cm, margins entire.

Racemes

dense.

crowded, elongated.

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 ovate, oblong, or elliptic 4–7.5 mm, (median pair thickened apically, cucullate);

petals spatulate or broadly cuneate, 6–13 mm, (claw slightly expanded at base).

Fruiting pedicels

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

(ascending, curved or sigmoid), 6–12(–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.

(substipitate), globose or obovoid to ellipsoid, sometimes slightly obcompressed, 4–9 mm;

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

replum as wide as or wider than fruit;

ovules 4–24 per ovary;

style (2–)4–7 mm.

Seeds

compressed.

flattened.

2n

= 8.

= 10.

Physaria bellii

Physaria pinetorum

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun(-Jul). Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Dark shale, road cuts, ridge crests, washes Scrub oak, pinyon-juniper woodland, open ponderosa pine forests, these sometimes mixed with Douglas fir, white pine, white fir, Engelmann spruce, or Gambel oak, on limestone-derived or otherwise basic soils, often in rock crevices
Elevation 1500-1800 m (4900-5900 ft) 1400-2900 (-3400) m (4600-9500 (-11200) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

Physaria pinetorum with reduced forms are found at high elevations; in disturbed, moist soils plants can become quite large, as in the Manzano Mountains. Densely cespitose plants with crowded racemes not exceeding the basal leaves are found at the crest (3200–3400 m) of the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico. These probably represent an undescribed taxon.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 628. FNA vol. 7, p. 658.
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. 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. 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 pinetorum
Name authority G. A. Mulligan: Canad. J. Bot. 44: 1662, fig. 1, plate 1, fig. 3. (1966) (Wooton & Standley) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 327. (2002)
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