Physaria pallida

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Physaria pallida
Status TNC G1.svg
Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Physaria
Species:
P. pallida
Binomial name
Physaria pallida
(Torr. & A.Gray) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz
Synonyms

Lesquerella pallida

Physaria pallida (syn. Lesquerella 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. [2] It is federally listed as an endangered species.

Contents

Description

This is an annual herb growing mostly erect to a height of 30 to 60 centimeters. The leaves may be any of a variety of shapes and have smooth, toothed, or lobed edges. The longest near the base of the plant can reach 10 centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers with oval white petals that narrow near the yellowish bases and measure just over a centimeter long. The fruit is a spherical silique which is variable in size. [3]

Habitat

This plant was discovered in the 1830s but not seen again until its rediscovery in 1981. [4] It has never been found outside of San Augustine County, Texas. There are six populations. [1] The plant grows on openings in oak, hickory, and pine woods. It is limited to a part of the Piney Woods region on the Gulf Coastal Plain where there is alkaline soil derived from the Weches Formation. [3] [5] This geologic formation contains carbonates above a layer of water-impermeable glauconite, which keeps the soil above from draining, leaving the area quite moist. [4] Most of the soils in eastern Texas are acidic, but the calcium and magnesium minerals in this formation make it alkaline. [4] Other rare plants that occur on the Weches Formation include Sedum pulchellum , Calylophus drummondianus , Liatris mucronata , Paronychia virginica , Petalostemum pulcherrimum , Heliotropium tenellum , Eleocharis compressa , and Cuphea viscosissima . [6]

Conservation

This plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat, which has largely been converted to agricultural and pasture use, or degraded during glauconite gravel mining operations, the product of which is used for road surfacing. [5] [6] The ecological succession of brush and woody vegetation into the clearings on which it depends also threatens the plant. It does not tolerate competition with other plants. [6] Habitat conservation activities include the removal of brush and vegetation buildup by mechanical means or with herbicides or fire. [2] Most of the populations occur on private property, [5] so conservation will depend on the cooperation of landowners. [2]

Related Research Articles

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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.

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<i>Lupinus aridorum</i> Species of legume

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<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.

<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>Glaucocarpum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Glaucocarpum is a monotypic plant genus containing the single species Glaucocarpum suffrutescens, a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names Uinta Basin waxfruit, waxfruit mustard, toad-flax cress, and shrubby reed-mustard. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from Duchesne and Uintah Counties. It is threatened by habitat degradation and destruction. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.

<i>Spiranthes delitescens</i> species of plant

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Thymophylla tephroleuca is a rare species of flowering plant known by the common names ashy pricklyleaf and ashy dogweed. It is endemic to Texas in the United States, where it occurs in two counties near the Mexican border. It became rare due to the destruction and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Townsendia aprica</i> Species of flowering plant

Townsendia aprica is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Last Chance Townsend daisy. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known from three counties. It faces a number of threats and it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.

<i>Warea amplexifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Warea amplexifolia is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names wideleaf pinelandcress, wide-leaf warea, and clasping warea. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to a few counties in the central part of the peninsula. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered 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 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.

Leavenworthia crassa is a species of flowering plant in the 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 congesta</i> Species of flowering plant

Physaria congesta 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. It is federally listed as a threatened species.

<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, and foothill bladderpod. It used to be Lesquerella ludoviciana which is now a synonym.

References

  1. 1 2 Lesquerella pallida. The Nature Conservancy.
  2. 1 2 3 Physaria pallida. Texas Parks & Wildlife
  3. 1 2 Physaria pallida. Flora of North America.
  4. 1 2 3 USFWS. Determination of endangered status for Lesquerella pallida (White Bladderpod). Federal Register March 11, 1987.
  5. 1 2 3 USFWS. Lesquerella pallida Recovery Plan. October 1992.
  6. 1 2 3 Lesquerella pallida. Center for Plant Conservation.
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