Physaria congesta

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Physaria congesta
Lesquerella congesta.jpg
Status TNC G1.svg
Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Physaria
Species:
P. congesta
Binomial name
Physaria congesta
(Rollins) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz
Synonyms

Lesquerella congesta

Physaria congesta [2] [3] [4] (syn. Lesquerella congesta) [5] [1] is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Dudley Bluffs bladderpod. It is endemic to western Colorado in the United States, where it is known only from seven occurrences in Rio Blanco County. [1] It is federally listed as a threatened species.

This is a petite perennial herb taking the form of a small, compact mound no more than about 2 centimeters tall. A short stem arises from a hairy caudex that remains buried in the soil. This is attached to a long, slender taproot. [5] The leaves are linear or lance-shaped and measure up to 1.5 centimeters in length. They are coated in hairs, giving them a gray or silver color. The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers. It is so short it generally lies within the densely packed leaves. The flowers have bright yellow petals each about half a centimeter long. The fruit is a silique about the same length. [4] The flowers are pollinated by the bee Andrena hicksii and other Andrena species. [6]

This plant grows on barren outcrops of rock in the notoriously petroleum-rich Piceance Basin. The substrate is pale white in color, and the tiny, gray-colored plant is nearly invisible until it blooms in yellow flowers. The flat, open ground in the area is a section of the Green River Formation exposed when rivers and creeks cut through the rock. The rock covers a vast network of oil shale. About 90% of the plant's habitat is on land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is establishing a plan to balance the needs of the plant and other organisms in the habitat with the proposed oil and gas exploration in the immediate area. [6] The rock is also mined for deposits of nahcolite and dawsonite, two types of sodium minerals. [6]

There are about 10,000 individual plants estimated to exist, [5] all in an area of 88 square kilometers in one Colorado county. [1] The plant is directly threatened by petroleum exploration activities. The effects of exploration on the species are not yet clear. While it is threatened, the species in general currently has a high probability of survival and does not yet meet the criteria for uplisting to endangered species status. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Physaria fendleri</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria fendleri is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by several common names, including Fendler's bladderpod, popweed, and lesquerella.

<i>Physaria</i> Genus of flowering plants

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.

<i>Physaria chambersii</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria chambersii is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Chambers' twinpod. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in desert woodland and plateau habitat. It is a perennial herb growing from a taproot and producing a clumpy rosette of stems up to 15 centimeters long, growing erect and falling over in fruit. The plant is covered in a silver-white coat of hairs. The leaves in the rosette are rounded to oval, up to 6 centimeters long by 2 wide, and smaller, spoon-shaped leaves are located along the stems. The inflorescence is a raceme of four-petalled golden yellow flowers. The fruit is an inflated pod which may be over a centimeter long. It is notched and divided into two chambers, each containing 4 seeds.

Paysonia perforata, known by the common name Spring Creek bladderpod, is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family. It is endemic to Tennessee in the United States, where it is known only from Wilson County. This very rare plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is federally listed as an endangered species.

<i>Physaria filiformis</i> Species of plant

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. P. filiformis remains listed as an endangered species at the state level in Missouri.

<i>Physaria obcordata</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria obcordata is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Dudley Bluffs twinpod. It is similar in appearance to the more common Piceance twinpod, but can be distinguished by looking at the leaves through a hand lens. The Piceance twinpod, Physaria acutifolia has stellate hairs when viewed through a hand lens while Physaria ocordata has markings that look like a satellite dish, or a circle with a dot in the middle. It is endemic to Colorado, where it is found only in the Piceance Basin in Rio Blanco County. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.

<i>Physaria globosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria globosa is a rare flowering plant in the mustard family commonly known as globe bladderpod, Short's bladderpod, and Lesquereux's mustard. It is endemic to the United States, where it is limited to Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is a rare species throughout its range and in 2014 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule protecting it under the Endangered Species Act.

Physaria hemiphysaria is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names Intermountain bladderpod and skyline bladderpod. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it grows on rocky ridges and outcrops of sandstone, shale, clay, and sand.

Physaria parviflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Piceance bladderpod and frosty bladderpod. It is endemic to Colorado in the United States, where it occurs in Garfield, Mesa, and Rio Blanco Counties.

<i>Penstemon grahamii</i> Species of flowering plant

Penstemon grahamii, known by the common names Uinta Basin beardtongue and Graham's beardtongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family. It is native to Utah and Colorado in the United States.

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.

<i>Physaria tenella</i> Species of flowering plant

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 containing flat orange seeds.

Leavenworthia crassa is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known commonly as the fleshy-fruit gladecress. It is endemic to Alabama in the United States, where it occurs in only two counties. It is "likely one of the most imperiled plant species in the Southeast," and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule listing it as an endangered species in 2014.

<i>Physaria pallida</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria pallida is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name white bladderpod. It is endemic to Texas in the United States, where it is known only from San Augustine County. It is federally listed as an endangered species.

<i>Physaria kingii</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria kingii is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name King bladderpod. It is native to western North America from Utah to Baja California, where it grows in dry and rocky habitat, such as deserts and adjacent mountain slopes. This is a perennial herb growing a small, hairy stem from a caudex. The leaves form a patch or rosette around the caudex, each up to 6 centimeters long and round, oval, diamond, or spoonlike in shape. The inflorescence is an erect or mostly upright raceme of bright yellow mustardlike flowers. The fruit is a hairy capsule under a centimeter long suspended on a short, often curvy pedicel.

<i>Physaria parvula</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Physaria pruinosa</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Physaria thamnophila</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria thamnophila is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Zapata bladderpod. It is native to Texas in the United States, where it is known from Zapata and Starr Counties. The plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is federally listed as an endangered species.

<i>Physaria tumulosa</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Physaria ludoviciana</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Physaria ludoviciana is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family Brassicaceae, with the common names of bladder pod, silver bladderpod, louisiana bladderpod, and foothill bladderpod. It used to be Lesquerella ludoviciana which is now a synonym.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 NatureServe (2023). "Physaria congesta". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  2. Lesquerella congesta. ITIS.
  3. "Physaria congesta". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Physaria congesta. Flora of North America.
  5. 1 2 3 Lesquerella congesta. Center for Plant Conservation.
  6. 1 2 3 4 USFWS. Dudley Bluffs Bladderpod and Dudley Bluffs Twinpod 5-Year Review. June 2008.