Physaria gordonii |
Physaria tenella |
|
---|---|---|
Gordon's bladderpod |
little bladderpod, Moapa 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). | Annuals or, rarely, biennials; with a taproot; densely pubescent, trichomes (simple or stellate, sessile or short-stalked), 4–7-rayed, rays usually furcate, rarely 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. |
several from base, decumbent to erect, (several-branched, frequently stout), 1.5–6 dm. |
Basal leaves | blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire. |
blade elliptic, (1.5–)3–6.5 cm, margins entire, repand, or shallowly dentate. |
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. |
(proximal shortly petiolate, distal sessile); blade linear to elliptic or obovate, (0.5–)1–3.5(–4.5) cm, margins entire or repand. |
Racemes | dense. |
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, lanceolate, or elliptic, (3–)3.5–6(–7.5) mm, (lateral pair subsaccate, median pair thickened apically, cucullate); petals (yellow to orange), suborbicular or obovate, (5–)6.5–8(–11) mm, (narrowing gradually to broad claw, usually widened at base). |
Fruiting pedicels | (divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm. |
(recurved, sigmoid), 5–15 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 shortly stipitate), orbicular or obovoid, often slightly compressed, (3.5–)4–6 mm; valves sparsely pubescent, trichomes sessile and stellate, densely pubescent inside, trichomes simple or branched; ovules 4–12 per ovary; style 2–4.5 mm. |
Seeds | flattened. |
flattened. |
2n | = 12, 32. |
= 10, 20. |
Physaria gordonii |
Physaria tenella |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Jul. | Flowering Feb–May. |
Habitat | Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields | Sandy soils, gravel, clayey loam, loose rocky slopes, washes, desert slopes and plains, lava hills, frequently in or near bushes |
Elevation | 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) | (0-)600-1900 m ((0-)2000-6200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
|
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Sonora)
|
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.) |
|
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 tenella, Lesquerella gordonii var. sessilis |
Name authority | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) | (A. Nelson) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 328. (2002) |
Web links |