Physaria calcicola

Perennials; (compact); caudex branched; densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), 5–8-rayed, rays distinct, furcate or bifurcate, (umbonate, tuberculate and the center less so). Stems several from base, erect or outer ones decumbent, (unbranched, stout, usually sparsely leaved), 1–3 dm. Basal leaves: blade linear, 2–7(–10) cm, margins entire, repand, or shallowly dentate. Cauline leaves (sessile); blade (erect), spatulate to linear, (1–)2–3(–4.5) cm, margins entire, sometimes involute, (apex acute or subacute). Racemes dense, (exceeding basal leaves). Fruiting pedicels (spreading, sharply sigmoid), 8–15 mm. Flowers: sepals ovate or oblong, (4.5–)5–6(–7) mm, (lateral pair subsaccate, cucullate, median pair thickened, cucullate apically); petals spatulate, 7–9(–11) mm (widened at base, slightly retuse). Fruits (sessile or substipitate), ovate to oblong, not compressed at distal margins or apex, 5–9 mm; valves sparsely pubescent, trichomes appressed; ovules 4–8 per ovary; style 3–5 mm. Seeds flattened. 2n = 16, ca. 20.

Phenology: Flowering May–Jun.
Habitat: Shale bluffs, limestone hillsides, gypseous knolls and ravines, calcareous substrates, grasslands and pinyon-juniper communities
Elevation: 1400-2100 m

Colo., N.Mex.

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa