Physaria parvula |
Physaria alpina |
|
---|---|---|
pygmy bladderpod |
Avery Peak or alpine twinpod, Avery Peak twinpod |
|
Habit | Perennials; caudex (buried), usually branched, sometimes simple, (cespitose); densely pubescent, trichomes (appressed), 4–7-rayed, rays distinct, furcate or bifurcate near base. | Perennials; (with a long taproot), caudex usually buried, simple, (enlarged, covered with marcescent leaf bases, crown rosulate and horizontal to somewhat ascending, forming a dense crown at apex of caudex); (silvery) pubescent throughout, trichomes (sessile or stipitate), 5–8-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, (rounded to umbonate, strongly tuberculate, less so or smooth over center). |
Stems | few to several from base, erect, (unbranched, slender), 0.3–1.5(–3) dm. |
few from base, decumbent, (arising laterally proximal to current season’s leaves), 0.3–0.8 dm. |
Basal leaves | (tufted, erect); blade linear to very narrowly spatulate, 1–3(–4) cm, margins entire (involute). |
(petiole slender); blade broadly obovate, or deltate to ovate or narrower, 1.5–3.5 cm, (base abruptly to gradually narrowed to petiole), margins entire or obscurely few-toothed, (apex usually obtuse, nearly acute in narrower leaves). |
Cauline leaves | similar to basal. |
(2–5 per stem); blade oblanceolate to spatulate, similar to basal, margins entire, (apex acute). |
Racemes | relatively dense. |
loose, (3–6-flowered). |
Flowers | sepals (greenish yellow), elliptic, 3.5–7 mm; petals spatulate, 5–6 mm, (not clawed). |
sepals narrowly oblong to linear, 7–9 mm; petals (erect), spatulate, 10–12(–15) mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | (ascending, curved or sigmoid), 2–10 mm. |
(widely spreading to ascending, slightly curved or straight), 7–11 mm. |
Fruits | (erect), ovoid (or longer than broad), usually inflated, 4–5 mm, (apex acute, slightly flattened); valves pubescent, trichomes appressed; ovules 4–8 per ovary; style 2–4 mm. |
(usually purplish in age), didymous, irregular and somewhat angular, not highly inflated, 4–11 × 10–13 mm, (coriaceous, papery, shallowly grooved distally and on sides, tapered and narrowed toward replum, base obtuse to truncate, apex with broad sinus to nearly truncate); valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), densely pubescent, not silvery; replum elliptic to obovate, as wide as or wider than fruit, base rounded, margins sparsely pubescent or glabrous, apex rounded (with funicles); ovules 4 per ovary; style 5–7 mm, (glabrous). |
Seeds | flattened, (mucilaginous). |
flattened. |
2n | = 10, 20. |
|
Physaria parvula |
Physaria alpina |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Exposed windblown ridges, gravelly hills, open rocky knolls, gravelly hilltops, clay hillsides, granitic sand, reddish soil, sagebrush, mountain scrub, and pinyon-juniper areas | Whitish or red substrates from limestone or dolomite, ridge crests, rocky alpine tundra and open areas |
Elevation | 1800-2800 m (5900-9200 ft) | 3500-4000 m (11500-13100 ft) |
Distribution |
CO; UT; WY
|
CO
|
Discussion | Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 657. | FNA vol. 7, p. 624. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria | Brassicaceae > tribe Physarieae > Physaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lesquerella parvula, Lesquerella alpina subsp. parvula, Lesquerella alpina var. parvula | |
Name authority | (Greene) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 326. (2002) | Rollins: Brittonia 33: 339. (1981) |
Web links |