Brassicaceae or Cruciferae is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, some shrubs, with simple, although sometimes deeply incised, alternatingly set leaves without stipules or in leaf rosettes, with terminal inflorescences without bracts, containing flowers with four free sepals, four free alternating petals, two short and four longer free stamens, and a fruit with seeds in rows, divided by a thin wall.
Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress, one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced. Changes in thale cress are easily observed, making it a very useful model.
Bladderpod oil is a seed oil, extracted from the seeds of the Physaria fendleri and other species of genus Physaria, Native to the plains and mesas of southwestern United States, eastward to Kansas and southward into northern Mexico. Bladderpod oil is rich in lesquerolic acid (C20:1-OH) which is a hydroxy acid. The only commercial source of hydroxy acid is ricinoleic acid (C18:1-OH), found in castor oil. Essentially all castor oil production in the U.S. has been eliminated by a combination of economic factors, excessive allergenic reactions of field and processing workers, and toxicity of the seed meal. The fatty acid composition of bladderpod oil is:
Physaria fendleri is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by several common names, including Fendler's bladderpod, popweed, and lesquerella.
Lesquerella is the former name of a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. Recent work has shown that Lesquerella is indistinct from the genus Physaria and both genera have been united under Physaria. In addition, the former Lesquerella of the southeastern United States have been moved to the genus Paysonia since 2002. The genus Lesquerella is now no longer applied to any species and is considered defunct.
Ihsan Ali Al-Shehbaz, Ph.D. is an Iraqi American botanist who works as Adjunct Professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Senior Curator at Missouri Botanical Garden. Al-Shehbaz's primary area of interest is Brassicaceae and The Durango Herald called him "a world expert on taxonomy of the family". A 2008 publication of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service called him "the world's authority on species in the genus Lesquerella". The author abbreviation "Al-Shehbaz" is attached to the numerous botanical taxa he has identified.
Bladderpod is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Physaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. Many species are known generally as twinpods, bladderpods, or lesquerella. They are native to the Americas, with many species endemic to western North America. They are densely hairy annual and perennial herbs often growing prostrate or decumbent, along the ground in patches or clumps. They bear inflorescences of bright yellow flowers. The fruit is often notched deeply, dividing into twin sections, giving the genus its common name.
Paysonia lyrata is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name lyreleaf bladderpod. It is endemic to Alabama in the United States, where it is known from only three occurrences. It is federally listed as a threatened species.
Physaria filiformis is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Missouri bladderpod and limestone glade bladderpod. It is native to Missouri and Arkansas in the United States. It was federally listed as an endangered species in 1987 and it was downlisted to threatened status in 2003.
Lesquerolic acid is a hydroxy acid that occurs naturally in Paysonia lasiocarpa and other Paysonia and Physaria species. It was first isolated in 1961 by a team from the Northern Regional Research Laboratory. This compound has the R configuration at the alcohol-bearing stereocenter, and it is of the Z configuration at the olefin. Lesquerolic acid is chemically similar to ricinoleic acid, but with two additional carbons at the carboxyl end of the carbon chain. Lesquerolic acid, with other hydroxy fatty acids, has important industrial uses, including making resins, waxes, nylons and plastics.
Paysonia stonensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, known by the common name Stones River bladderpod. It is endemic to Tennessee in the United States, where it is limited to Rutherford County. It grows only in the floodplains of the Stones River, and certain tributaries.
Physaria fremontii is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Fremont's bladderpod. It is endemic to Wyoming in the United States, where it occurs only in and around the Wind River Range in Fremont County.
Physaria tenella is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Moapa bladderpod and slender bladderpod. It is native to western North America from Utah to Sonora, where it grows mainly in desert habitat. This is an annual herb producing several hairy multibranched erect to spreading stems sometimes exceeding half a meter long. The basal leaves are up to 6.5 centimeters long and sometimes toothed, and there are smaller leaves higher on the stem. The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers at the tip of the stem. The mustardlike flower has four orange to bright yellow petals each up to a centimeter long. The fruit is a plump, hairy, rounded capsule.
Physaria parvula is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name pygmy bladderpod. It is native to the Western United States, where it can be found in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.
Physaria pruinosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Pagosa Springs bladderpod and frosty bladderpod. It is native to Colorado and New Mexico in the United States.
Physaria tumulosa is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Kodachrome bladderpod. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from Kane County. There is only one known population of this plant made up of scattered occurrences totalling about 20,000 individuals, all within the Kodachrome Basin. The plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is federally listed as an endangered species. It was previously treated as a subspecies of Physaria hitchcockii.
Physaria arctica is a perennial flowering herb in the family Brassicaceae, known by the common name arctic bladderpod.
