Physaria gordonii |
Physaria spatulata |
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Gordon's bladderpod |
alpine bladderpod, spatula-leaf bladderpod |
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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, (relatively small); sparsely to moderately pubescent, trichomes 4- or 5-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, not fused, (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, erect to decumbent, (well-exserted beyond basal leaves, loosely spreading), 0.3–1.2 dm. |
Basal leaves | blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire. |
(erect to prostrate, petiole distinct from blade); blade (inner) spatulate to oblanceolate, or (outer) oblanceolate or orbicular, 1.5–4 cm, margins entire (rarely folded). |
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, distinctly different from basal. |
Racemes | dense. |
moderately dense, (6–20-flowered). |
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, 3.5–5 mm; petals lingulate, 6–9 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm. |
(strongly sigmoid), 10–20 mm (2 times longer than fruits). |
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. |
lanceolate or orbicular, slightly inflated, (2.5–)3–6 mm, (apex usually strongly narrowed); valves pubescent, trichomes sparse and closely appressed to surface; ovules 4–8 per ovary; style 2.5–6 mm (usually ± equal in length to mature fruit). |
Seeds | flattened. |
plump. |
2n | = 12, 32. |
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Physaria gordonii |
Physaria spatulata |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Jul. | Flowering May-early Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields | Grasslands, subalpine meadows, sagebrush, scattered pines, fellfields, calcareous (sometimes alkaline) substrates |
Elevation | 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) | 900-2900 m (3000-9500 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
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MT; ND; NE; SD; WY; AB; SK
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 640. | FNA vol. 7, p. 663. |
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 spatulata, Lesquerella alpina var. spatulata, Lesquerella nodosa, P. reediana subsp. spatulata, P. reediana var. spatulata |
Name authority | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) | (Rydberg) Grady & O’Kane: Novon 17: 190. (2007) |
Web links |