Physaria gordonii |
Physaria navajoensis |
|
---|---|---|
Gordon's bladderpod |
Navajo 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 branched, (woody, pulvinate-cespitose, forming hard, hemispherical mats, basal parts covered with persistent leaf bases); densely (silvery gray) pubescent, trichomes mostly 5-rayed, rays bifurcate, slightly fused at base, (umbonate, strongly tuberculate except nearly smooth over umbo). |
Stems | several from base, erect to decumbent or prostrate, (unbranched or branched, sometimes densely leaved), 1–3.5(–4.5) dm. |
several from base (crowded), erect, not exceeding leaves. |
Basal leaves | blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire. |
usually absent. |
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. |
(petiole not differentiated from blade); blade linear-oblanceolate, 3–8(–13) mm, margins entire. |
Racemes | dense. |
(secund), dense, corymbose, (few-flowered, not or barely exceeding leaves). |
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 (yellow-green), linear to narrowly triangular, 3.7–4.8 mm, (lateral pair subsaccate); petals (deep yellow, slightly orange in center), spatulate, 5.2–6.5 mm, (claw joined at right angle). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm. |
(ascending to divaricate-ascending, straight), 3.5–6 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. |
(becoming reddish or copper-colored in age), ovate, often slightly compressed (at margins apically), 3–5 mm, (apex acute); valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous; (septum perforate or not); ovules 4–8 per ovary; style 1.8–3 mm. |
Seeds | flattened. |
plump or slightly flattened, (strongly mucilaginous). |
2n | = 12, 32. |
|
Physaria gordonii |
Physaria navajoensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Jul. | Flowering May-early Jun. |
Habitat | Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields | Pinyon-juniper communities on nearly barren outcrops of Todilto Limestone |
Elevation | 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) | 2200-2400 m (7200-7900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
|
AZ; NM |
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.) |
Of conservation concern. Physaria navajoensis is morphologically similar to 85. P. tumulosa of southern Utah, differing subtly. Physaria navajoensis has petals slightly orange at the junction of blade and claw, a sharp bend at that junction giving the flower a flat-topped appearance, and strongly mucilaginous seeds. Physaria tumulosa has pure yellow petals that gently flex at the junction of blade and claw, and seeds that are not mucilaginous. Molecular data (pers. obs.) show that these two species are not directly related. A population of plants on Deer Spring Point, Kane County, Utah, appears to be this species, but molecular data indicate that it is probably a hybrid between P. tumulosa and, most likely, P. intermedia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 640. | FNA vol. 7, p. 651. |
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 navajoensis |
Name authority | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) | (O’Kane) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 325. (2002) |
Web links |