Flora of North America species comparison

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Physaria tenella

little bladderpod, Moapa bladderpod
Habit 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, decumbent to erect, (several-branched, frequently stout), 1.5–6 dm.
Basal leaves

blade elliptic, (1.5–)3–6.5 cm, margins entire, repand, or shallowly dentate.
Cauline leaves

(proximal shortly petiolate, distal sessile);

blade linear to elliptic or obovate, (0.5–)1–3.5(–4.5) cm, margins entire or repand.
Racemes

loose.
Flowers

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

(recurved, sigmoid), 5–15 mm.
Fruits

(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.
2n

= 10, 20.

Physaria tenella
Phenology Flowering Feb–May.
Habitat Sandy soils, gravel, clayey loam, loose rocky slopes, washes, desert slopes and plains, lava hills, frequently in or near bushes
Elevation (0-)600-1900 m ((0-)2000-6200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 663.
Parent taxa 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. 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. 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. thamnophila, P. tumulosa, P. valida, P. vicina, P. vitulifera
Synonyms Lesquerella tenella, Lesquerella gordonii var. sessilis
Name authority (A. Nelson) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz: Novon 12: 328. (2002)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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