Physaria rollinsii |
Physaria gordonii |
|
---|---|---|
Rollins' twinpod |
Gordon's bladderpod |
|
Habit | Perennials; (compact); caudex usually simple, (cespitose); (silvery) pubescent throughout, trichomes 6–8-rayed, rays furcate near base, fused at base, (umbonate, strongly tuberculate throughout). | 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). |
Stems | several from base, decumbent, (unbranched, slender), 0.5–1 dm. |
several from base, erect to decumbent or prostrate, (unbranched or branched, sometimes densely leaved), 1–3.5(–4.5) dm. |
Basal leaves | (strongly rosulate); blade usually oblanceolate or broader, sometimes triangular, 2–3.5 cm (width 5–10 mm), margins entire or with 1 or 2 broad teeth, (apex acute). |
blade obovate to broadly oblong, 1.5–5(–8) cm, margins lyrate-pinnatifid, dentate, or entire. |
Cauline leaves | blade oblanceolate, 1–1.5 cm (width 2–4 mm), margins entire, (apex acute). |
(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. |
Racemes | congested, (elongated moderately in fruit). |
dense. |
Flowers | sepals linear, 5–7 mm; petals spatulate, 8–10 mm, (apex often somewhat truncate). |
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). |
Fruiting pedicels | (spreading, straight or somewhat sigmoid), 5–8 mm. |
(divaricate-ascending, sigmoid or, sometimes, nearly straight), 5–15(–25) mm. |
Fruits | (erect), didymous, suborbicular, inflated, 2–5(–8) × 4–8(–10)mm, (coriaceous, base slightly cordate or nearly obtuse, sinus obsolete or absent, apical sinus broad and deep); valves (retaining seeds after dehiscence), pubescent, trichomes appressed, (silvery on ovaries and immature fruit); replum obovate to oblong, as wide as or wider than fruit, rarely somewhat constricted basally, apex obtuse; ovules 4 per ovary; style 5–7 mm. |
(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. |
Seeds | slightly flattened. |
flattened. |
2n | = 8. |
= 12, 32. |
Physaria rollinsii |
Physaria gordonii |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Feb–Jul. |
Habitat | Sagebrush, granitic talus, open knolls, limestone chiprock, steep slopes, clay banks, near granite boulders | Sandy or light soils, rocky plains, caprock ledges, gravelly brushland, sandy desert washes, stream bottoms, pastures, roadsides, abandoned fields |
Elevation | 2300-2500(-3900) m (7500-8200(-12800) ft) | 150-1700 m (500-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
CO
|
AZ; KS; NM; OK; TX; VA; Mexico (Chihuahua, 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. 661. | FNA vol. 7, p. 640. |
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 | |
Name authority | G. A. Mulligan: Canad. J. Bot. 44: 1663, fig. 2, plate 1, fig. 4. (1966) | (A. Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 323. (2002) |
Web links |