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Gordon's bladderpod

Idaho bladderpod

Habit Annuals, biennials, or perennials; (short-lived); with a fine taproot; usually densely pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), 4–7-rayed, rays distinct and furcate or bifurcate, (nearly smooth to finely tuberculate). Perennials; caudex simple, (often enlarged by persistent leaf bases); densely pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), rays furcate or bifurcate, (nearly smooth to finely tuberculate).
Stems

several from base, erect to decumbent or prostrate, (unbranched or branched, sometimes densely leaved), 1–3.5(–4.5) dm.

simple from base, decumbent, (occasionally few-branched), 0.5–1.5(–2) dm.

Basal leaves

blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire.

blade elliptic to broadly obovate, triangular, rhombic, or round, 1.5–3(–4) cm, margins often sinuate or shallowly lobed.

Cauline leaves

(proximal sometimes petiolate, distal sessile);

blade linear to oblanceolate, often falcate, 1–4(–7) cm, (proximal with base sometimes cuneate), margins entire, repand, or shallowly dentate.

(sessile or shortly petiolate);

blade elliptic to oblanceolate to obovate, 0.5–1.5 cm, (base narrowed to petiole), margins entire.

Racemes

dense.

compact to loose.

Flowers

sepals elliptic or oblong, 3–6.5 mm, (lateral pair subsaccate, median pair thickened apically, cucullate);

petals (widely spreading at anthesis, yellow to orange, claw sometimes whitish), cuneate, obdeltate, or obovate, (tapering to claw), 5–8(–10) mm, (claw often widened at base).

sepals oblong to broadly elliptic, 4–7.5 mm, (lateral pair saccate or not);

petals spatulate, 7.5–10 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

(divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm.

(ascending or divaricate-spreading, straight to loosely sigmoid or curved), 4–10 mm.

Fruits

(shortly stipitate), subglobose, not or slightly compressed, (3–)4–8 mm;

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

replum as wide as or wider than fruit;

ovules (8–)12–20(–26) per ovary;

style (1.5–)2–4(–5) mm.

(sessile or substipitate), elliptic, suborbicular, or oblong, strongly compressed (angustiseptate), 5–9 mm, (rounded to sharply keeled on 1 side, edges ± keeled);

valves: (margins covering replum edges or not), usually pubescent throughout or, rarely, glabrous inside;

ovules (4–)8–14(–16) per ovary;

style 2–4.5(–5) mm.

Seeds

flattened.

slightly flattened.

2n

= 12, 32.

Physaria gordonii

Physaria carinata

Phenology Flowering Feb–Jul.
Habitat Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields
Elevation 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID; MT; WY
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Physaria gordonii was reported from Virginia in 1987 by Robert Wright from a Hampton Shale roadcut along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where it was probably a short-lived waif.

Subspecies densifolia, of Lincoln County, New Mexico, of which there is now more material than Rollins had available in 1993, appears to represent a suite of environmentally determined, variable, and intergrading characteristics that does not merit taxonomic recognition.

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

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

Differences in fruit morphology become blurred and the three subspecies are often indistinguishable where their ranges meet near the intersection of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

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

Key
1. Fruits elliptic, not keeled, valve margins (thin, rounded), not covering replum edges.
subsp. paysonii
1. Fruits elliptic, suborbicular, or broadly oblong, keeled on one side, valve margins covering replum edges
→ 2
2. Fruits elliptic, bases narrow-rounded to acute, apices ± acute.
subsp. carinata
2. Fruits suborbicular to elliptic or broadly oblong, bases and apices rounded.
subsp. pulchella
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 640. FNA vol. 7, p. 629.
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. 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. 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
P. carinata subsp. carinata, P. carinata subsp. paysonii, P. carinata subsp. pulchella
Synonyms Vesicaria gordonii, Alyssum gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii var. densifolia, P. gordonii subsp. densifolia, P. gordonii var. densifolia Lesquerella carinata
Name authority (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) (Rollins) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 322. (2002)
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