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mid-bladderpod

frosty bladderpod, Pagosa bladderpod

Habit 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). Perennials; caudex simple or branched, (covered with persistent leaf bases); densely pubescent, trichomes (sessile or subsessile), 4–7-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, (tuberculate throughout).
Stems

several from base, erect to decumbent, (unbranched, stout, densely leafy sterile shoots sometimes present), (0.5–)4–2.5 dm.

simple or several from base, decumbent or erect, (unbranched), to 2 dm.

Basal leaves

(clustered at stem base);

blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, 2–5 cm, margins entire, usually involute, sometimes flattened, (apex obtuse to subacute).

(petiole sharply differentiated from blade, slender);

blade suborbicular or obovate to rhombic, 4–8 cm, (base abruptly narrowed to petiole), margins entire, sinuate, or shallowly dentate, (abaxial surface densely pubescent, adaxial lightly pubescent).

Cauline leaves

blade linear-oblanceolate to linear, 1–3.5(–4.5) cm, margins entire, usually involute.

(proximal petiolate, distal sessile);

blade obovate to rhombic, 0.8–2.3 cm, margins entire or shallowly toothed.

Racemes

compact, (often nearly subumbellate).

dense, (somewhat elongated in fruit).

Flowers

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).

sepals elliptic or oblong, ca. 6 mm, (lateral pair not saccate or subsaccate, cucullate, median pair thickened apically, cucullate);

petals spatulate, ca. 9 mm, (claw expanded at base).

Fruiting pedicels

(often expanded distally, ascending or recurved, usually straight or slightly curved, rarely nearly sigmoid), 4–15 mm, (stout).

(horizontal to ascending, sigmoid or slightly curved), 8–11 mm, (stout).

Fruits

(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.

(sessile or substipitate, often becoming copper-red in age), subglobose or ellipsoid, inflated, 6–9 mm, (firm, glossy);

valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous throughout;

replum as wide as or wider than fruit;

ovules 4–8(–12) per ovary;

style 3.5–7 mm.

Seeds

flattened.

somewhat flattened.

2n

= 18, 20, 36.

Physaria intermedia

Physaria pruinosa

Phenology Flowering Apr–Aug. Flowering May–Jun(-Aug).
Habitat 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 Mancos slate or shale, meadows, gentle slopes, edges of ponderosa pine stands
Elevation 1600-2400 m (5200-7900 ft) 2100-2600 m (6900-8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; NM
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Of conservation concern.

The one New Mexico population is near the border with Colorado, in Rio Arriba County.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 644. FNA vol. 7, p. 658.
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. gordonii, P. gracilis, P. grahamii, P. hemiphysaria, P. hitchcockii, P. humilis, P. integrifolia, 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. pachyphylla, P. pallida, P. parviflora, P. parvula, P. pendula, P. pinetorum, P. prostrata, 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 Lesquerella alpina var. intermedia, Lesquerella intermedia Lesquerella pruinosa
Name authority (S. Watson) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 324. (2002) (Greene) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 327. (2002)
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