Physaria bellii |
Physaria scrotiformis |
|
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Bell's or Front Range twinpod, Bell's twinpod, Front Range twinpod |
silver twinpod, west silver bladderpod |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex simple, (relatively large); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile, appressed), rays furcate, fused at base. | Perennials; (diminutive); caudex simple or branched, (buried, with thatch of persistent leaf bases distally); (appearing silvery gray-green to silvery purple), densely pubescent, trichomes usually 5 or 6 (rarely 7)-rayed, rays bifurcate or incompletely so, (relatively short, stout, umbonate, moderately tuberculate to nearly smooth, lower layer smoother). |
Stems | simple from base, decumbent to nearly prostrate, 0.5–1.3 dm. |
1–5 from base, prostrate to slightly decumbent, (arising laterally, also erect or ascending from tuft of basal leaves, unbranched, purple-green), 0.08–0.3 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 slightly winged); blade oblanceolate, elliptic, or rhombic, (mostly flat, sometimes somewhat folded), 0.6–2.7 cm, (base tapering to petiole), margins entire, (apex rounded to rounded-acute). |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate to broadly obovate, 1–2.5 cm, margins entire. |
(3–7, shortly petiolate or sessile); blade elliptic to oblanceolate, 0.3–0.5 cm, margins entire. |
Racemes | dense. |
crowded, (ca. 3–7 fruits). |
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 (greenish yellow), linear-triangular, 3.7–5 mm, (lateral pair subsaccate); petals oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, 4.5–9 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending to widely spreading, slightly sigmoid to curved), 7–12 mm. |
(ascending, straight), 1.8–3.4 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. |
(shortly stipitate, purple or greenish purple in age), slightly didymous, ovoid to obpyriform, 3–5 mm (wider than long, base rounded-obtuse, apex rounded, flattened, or slightly emarginate); valves (inflated, slightly wider than replum), pubescent, trichomes scattered; replum obovate to orbicular-obdeltate, apex rounded, obtuse, or truncate; septum complete or medially small-perforate; ovules 4–6(–8) per ovary; style 2–3.6 mm. |
Seeds | compressed. |
relatively plump, (ovate to suborbicular, usually rounded on one side, ± flat or concave on the other, not mucilaginous when wetted). |
2n | = 8. |
|
Physaria bellii |
Physaria scrotiformis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun(-Jul). | Flowering Jun-early Jul. |
Habitat | Dark shale, road cuts, ridge crests, washes | Tundra areas with islands of Engelmann spruce on Leadville limestone, amidst limestone cobbles and gravel |
Elevation | 1500-1800 m (4900-5900 ft) | 3500-3700 m (11500-12100 ft) |
Distribution |
CO
|
CO |
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 scrotiformis is known only from La Plata County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 628. | FNA vol. 7, p. 662. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | G. A. Mulligan: Canad. J. Bot. 44: 1662, fig. 1, plate 1, fig. 3. (1966) | O’Kane: Novon 17: 376, fig. 1. (2007) |
Web links |