Spatula-leaf Bladderpod - Physaria spatulata
Other Names:
Lesquerella alpina var. spatulata [in part and misapplied], Physaria reediana ssp. spatulata, Physaria eriocarpa
Stems simple, erect to ascending, 1–15 cm from a simple or branched caudex clothed in old leaf bases. Basal leaves 7–30 mm long, oblanceolate to spatulate, entire. Stem leaves linear to narrowly oblanceolate. Vestiture of dense, appressed, stellate hairs. Petals 5–7 mm long. Fruit ovoid, inflated, 2–5 mm high; style 2–3.5 mm long; seeds 2 to 4 per locule; pedicels sigmoid-spreading, 4–12 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Spatula-leaf Bladderpod -
Physaria spatulata*Pedicles are sigmoid-spreading, 4-12 mm long - at least twice as long as the fruit (silicle).
*Fruits inflated,
not 2-lobed, ovoid, and 2-5 mm high. Style is more than half the length of the fruit.
*Basal leaf blades thinner than 1 mm.
*Plants grow in sandy or gravelly soil (calcareous or not) on exposed slopes and ridges in grasslands, steppe, woodlands, and fellfields in the plains, valleys, montane, and alpine zones.
Thick-leaf Bladderpod –
Physaria pachyphylla, SOC
*Pedicels curve upwards (ascend), 3-10 mm long.
*Fruits inflated,
not 2-lobed, and narrowly elliptic to ovoid, 3-6 mm tall. Style is more than half the length of the fruit (silicle).
*Basal leaves have distinct petioles and blades. Blades are spatulate to oblanceolate in shape, nearly 1 mm thick and cupped (but not folded), and with entire margins [key characteristic].
*Plants grow on pinkish or reddish soils derived from limestone on exposed slopes and ridges in valleys.
Sandy or gravelly soil of exposed slopes, ridges in grasslands, steppe, woodlands, fellfields, more common in calcareous soil; plains, valleys to alpine (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
