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Physaria
acutifolia
(Double Bladderpod) Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, woodlands,
openings. Spring. Physaria
acutifolia is often most often a small, low growing plant several inches in height and diameter, but it can be, as shown at left, several times that size. The plant has multiple flower stems with numerous bright flower clusters. Flower stems can be reclining to erect. In winter, the sage-green ground-hugging basal leaves are very
noticeable against the barren ground.
Per Axel Rydberg named this
species in 1901 from a specimen collected by Alice Eastwood in Grand
Junction, Colorado in 1892. "Acutifolia" is Greek for "sharp-edged foliage". |
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Physaria
acutifolia (Double Bladderpod) Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) Semi-desert, foothills. Shrublands, woodlands,
openings. Spring. Physaria acutifolia leaf shape is distinctive, starting very narrow and then widening to a spade shape. Even more noticeable in the spring are Bladderpod’s very bright yellow flowers on its common habitat of bare sandy soil. These Bladderpods spread their seeds in a small area and the seeds are quite successful in germinating, so when one plant is spotted, a number of others are almost sure to be within fifteen feet. As they mature, the bladder pods range in color from green to yellow to pink to purple. |
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Physaria
fendleri. Synonym:
Lesquerella
fendleri. (Bladderpod) Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) Semi-desert. Sandy openings, shrublands. Spring. This intensely golden-yellow flower occurs singly and in scattered patches brightening even the cloudiest of days -- as it did on the very cloudy and windy day I took these pictures. This is a well-established perennial which has numerous stems with many flowers on each stem. The blue-green cast to the stems and leaves comes from a myriad of white stellate hairs (hairs that branch in a starburst pattern) that cover a dark green cell pigment. Asa Gray named this plant Vesicaria fendleri in 1849 from a specimen collected by the highly respected Augustus Fendler near Santa Fe in 1847. Sereno Watson named it Lesquerella fendleri in 1888. O'Kane and Al-Shehbaz renamed it Physaria fendleri in 2002. (More biographical information.) |
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Physaria fendleri. Synonym:
Lesquerella
fendleri. (Bladderpod) Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) Semi-desert. Sandy openings, shrublands. Spring. |
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Physaria fendleri. Synonym:
Lesquerella
fendleri. (Bladderpod) Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)
Semi-desert. Sandy openings, shrublands. Spring. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Physaria acutifolia
Range map for Physaria fendleri |
Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state
Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Eradicated
Questionable presence
