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Gordon's bladderpod

thick-leaf 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 usually simple, rarely branched, (loosely mounded, rosette-like growth); densely (silvery or gray) pubescent, trichomes (sessile), 5-rayed, rays bifurcate, slightly fused near base of main rays, (tuberculate throughout, less 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, decumbent to prostrate, (well-exserted beyond basal leaves), 0.2–0.5 dm.

Basal leaves

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

(petiole differentiated from blade);

blade (slightly cupped, leathery, nearly 1 mm thick), oblanceolate to orbicular, 1.2–2 cm, margins entire, (apex acute).

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 spatulate, similar to basal.

Racemes

dense.

dense, (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 (pale yellow), elliptic to oblong, 3.5–4.0 mm, (median pair somewhat thickened apically, cucullate);

petals lingulate, 5–6 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

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

(ascending, curved), 5–7 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.

globose or ellipsoid, slightly inflated (with slight apical constriction), 3–6 mm;

valves pubescent, trichomes closely appressed;

ovules 8 per ovary;

style 1–3 mm (shorter than mature fruit).

Seeds

flattened.

plump, (oblong).

2n

= 12, 32.

Physaria gordonii

Physaria pachyphylla

Phenology Flowering Feb–Jul. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields Barren areas of mixed white, pink, or reddish limestone and diatomaceous earth
Elevation 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) 1300-1600 m (4300-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
MT
[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.)

Of conservation concern.

Physaria pachyphylla is known from the Pryor Mountain Desert near the Wyoming state line.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 640. FNA vol. 7, p. 656.
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. 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. 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
Synonyms Vesicaria gordonii, Alyssum gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii, Lesquerella gordonii var. densifolia, P. gordonii subsp. densifolia, P. gordonii var. densifolia
Name authority (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) O’Kane & Grady: Novon 17: 187, fig. 4. (2007)
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