| Physaria fremontii | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Physaria |
| Species: | P. fremontii |
| Binomial name | |
| Physaria fremontii (Rollins & Shaw) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz | |
| Synonyms | |
Lesquerella fremontii | |
Physaria fremontii [1] (syn. Lesquerella fremontii) [2] [3] is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family 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. [2]
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name, although the term is used somewhat differently in the zoological code of nomenclature. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use: it is now a synonym of the current scientific name, Picea abies.
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.
Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.
This species is a perennial herb growing from a taproot and producing decumbent or prostrate stems up to 15 centimeters long. The basal leaves are up to four or five centimeters long with oval blades borne on petioles. Longer, narrower leaves occur along the stems. The flowers have four yellow petals and measure 6 to 8 millimeters in length. The fruit is an inflated or flattened pod up to 7 millimeters long. It has a coating of hairs on the outer and inner surfaces. [3] [1]
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. Some sources cite perennial plants being plants that live more than three years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials.
Herbaceous plants in Botany, frequently shortened to herbs, are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground. Herb has other meanings in cooking, medicine, and other fields. Herbaceous plants are those plants that do not have woody stems, they include many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials, they include both forbs and graminoids.
A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot is a storage organ so well developed that it has been cultivated as a vegetable.
This plant is a calciphile, growing only on limestone or rocks that are partly limestone or are derived from limestone. It can be found up to 11,100 feet in elevation, up to the subalpine climates of the local mountains. [3] It may be grow in Festuca idahoensis plant communities, and it is often associated with Pinus flexilis and Artemisia tripartita . [2] The habitat is open. The landscape may have few plants, or it may be covered in cushion plants or dry mountain meadow species. Associated plants include Arenaria congesta (ballhead sandwort), Balsamorhiza incana (hoary balsamroot), Draba oligosperma (few-seed draba), Elymus spicatus (bluebunch wheatgrass), Erigeron compositus (cut-leaved daisy), Haplopappus acaulis (stemless mock goldenweed), Hymenoxys acaulis (stemless hymenoxys), Hymenoxys richardsonii (Richardson’s hymenoxys), Koeleria macrantha (Junegrass), Lomatium cous (biscuitroot), Lupinus argenteus (silvery lupine), Oxytropis sericea (white locoweed), Phlox hoodii (Hood’s phlox), Phlox multiflora (many-flowered phlox), Poa secunda (Sandberg bluegrass), Potentilla ovina (sheep cinquefoil), Sedum lanceolatum (lance-leaved stonecrop), Senecio canus (woolly groundsel), and Townsendia spathulata (spoon-leaved Easter-daisy). [3]
Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolomite, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In fact, in old USGS publications, dolomite was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolomites or magnesium-rich limestones.
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface . The term elevation is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a spacecraft in orbit, and depth is used for points below the surface.
Festuca idahoensis is a species of grass known by the common names Idaho fescue and blue bunchgrass. It is native to western North America, where it is widespread and common. It can be found in many ecosystems, from shady forests to open plains grasslands.
This plant's habitat is affected by road construction, limestone quarrying, and recreational activity such as off-road vehicle use. [3]
An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexible suspension, or even caterpillar tracks. Other vehicles that do not travel public streets or highways are generally termed off-highway vehicles, including tractors, forklifts, cranes, backhoes, bulldozers, and golf carts.
