Physaria gordonii |
Physaria intermedia |
|
---|---|---|
Gordon's bladderpod |
mid-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 (buried), branched, (thickened with persistent leaf bases, cespitose); densely pubescent (usually grayish-green), trichomes (sessile or short stalked, spreading), several-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, slightly fused at base, (tuberculate or finely tuberculate). |
Stems | several from base, erect to decumbent or prostrate, (unbranched or branched, sometimes densely leaved), 1–3.5(–4.5) dm. |
several from base, erect to decumbent, (unbranched, stout, densely leafy sterile shoots sometimes present), (0.5–)4–2.5 dm. |
Basal leaves | blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire. |
(clustered at stem base); blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, 2–5 cm, margins entire, usually involute, sometimes flattened, (apex obtuse to subacute). |
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. |
blade linear-oblanceolate to linear, 1–3.5(–4.5) cm, margins entire, usually involute. |
Racemes | dense. |
compact, (often nearly subumbellate). |
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 (yellowish or greenish yellow), ovate or oblong, 4.5–7.5(–9) mm, (lateral pair sometimes cucullate, median pair tapering at both ends, thickened apically, cucullate); petals spatulate or oblong, 6.5–10.5(–15) mm, (base sometimes widened, apex rounded or retuse). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm. |
(often expanded distally, ascending or recurved, usually straight or slightly curved, rarely nearly sigmoid), 4–15 mm, (stout). |
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), subglobose to slightly ovoid, usually inflated, rarely compressed or obcompressed, 4–6(–10) mm, (apex acute, slightly flattened); valves sparsely pubescent, trichomes appressed; ovules (8–)12–16(–20) per ovary; style (2–)3–4.5(–5.5) mm. |
Seeds | flattened. |
flattened. |
2n | = 12, 32. |
= 18, 20, 36. |
Physaria gordonii |
Physaria intermedia |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Jul. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields | Dry sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil, claylike hillsides, open chiprock, dry stream beds, gravel bars, open knolls, open pinyon-juniper woods, open stands of sagebrush, Gambel oak or ponderosa pine communities, calcareous substrates |
Elevation | 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) | 1600-2400 m (5200-7900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
|
AZ; NM; UT
|
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.) |
N. H. Holmgren (2005b) pointed out that the lectotype and other material from New Mexico, where Physaria intermedia is very infrequent, is quite similar to P. parvula from northern Colorado and northeastern Utah; it is also quite similar to, but less robust than, P. pulvinata from southwestern Colorado. The material from Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and Utah may represent an unnamed taxon; further study is needed. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 640. | FNA vol. 7, p. 644. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Vesicaria gordonii, Alyssum gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii var. densifolia, P. gordonii subsp. densifolia, P. gordonii var. densifolia | Lesquerella alpina var. intermedia, Lesquerella intermedia |
Name authority | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) | (S. Watson) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 324. (2002) |
Web links |