Fendler’s bladderpod

Vesicaria fendleri A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 9. 1849; Alyssum fendleri (A. Gray) Kuntze; A. stenophyllum (A. Gray) Kuntze; Lesquerella fendleri (A. Gray) S. Watson; L. foliacea Greene; L. praecox Wooton & Standley; L. stenophylla (A. Gray) Rydberg; V. stenophylla A. Gray; V. stenophylla var. diffusa A. Gray; V. stenophylla var. humilis A. Gray; V. stenophylla var. procera A. Gray

Perennials; caudex branched, (sometimes woody at base); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (sessile or short-stalked), several-rayed, rays not furcate, fused (webbed) ca. 1/2 their length, (tuberculate throughout or tubercles scarce or absent over center). Stems several from base, erect or laterally decumbent, (usually unbranched), (0.3-)0.5-2.5(-4) dm. Basal leaves: blade linear to somewhat elliptic, 1-4(-8) cm, margins entire or coarsely dentate. Cauline leaves (shortly petiolate); blade usually linear to narrowly oblanceolate, rarely elliptic to rhombic, 0.5-2.5 cm, (base narrowing to petiole), margins entire or remotely dentate (sometimes involute). Racemes loose to somewhat dense. Fruiting pedicels (divaricate-spreading to erect, usually straight or slightly curved, occasionally sigmoid), 8-20(-40) mm. Flowers: sepals elliptic to oblong, 5-8 mm, (lateral pair not saccate, median pair often thickened apically, ± cucullate); petals (usually orange or orange-yellow at junction of blade and claw, sometimes also with orange guidelines), obdeltate to obovate, 8-12 mm, (claw relatively short). Fruits globose, broadly ellipsoid, or ovoid, not or slightly inflated, 5-8 mm, (firm, apex usually acute); valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence, often reddish in age), glabrous throughout; replum as wide as or wider than fruit; ovules (12-) 20-32(-40) per ovary; style (2-)3-6 mm. Seeds flattened. 2n = 12, 14, 24.

Flowering Mar-May. Limestone outcrops, gypseous hills, gravels, sandy washes, rocky slopes, bluffs, shallow drainage areas, plains and desert shrub areas; 100-2000 m; Ariz., Colo., Kans., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León).

In dry areas, Physaria fendleri may flower following suitable rains at any time of the year.