Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

BLADDERPOD

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Physaria gordonii (A. Gray ) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz

[=Lesquerella gordonii (A. Gray ) S. Wats.]

Barber County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-16 inches

Family: Brassicaceae - Mustard Family

Flowering Period: March, April, May, June

Stems:

Erect, decumbent or prostrate, several, sometimes branched, leafy.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, stalked below, sessile above, elliptic to obovate below, linear to oblanceolate, often sickle-shaped above, 1/2 to 3 inches long, mostly less than 1/2 inch wide, densely covered with star-shaped hairs; margins pinnately cleft to entire below, entire to unevenly or shallowly toothed above.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, dense, terminal. Fruiting pedicels spreading to ascending, usually sigmoid, sometimes straight, 1/5 to 1 inch.

Flowers:

Sepals 4, elliptic or oblong; petals 4, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long, yellow to orange, widely spreading; stamens 6, 2 short, 4 long.

Fruits:

Pods, spherical, glabrous; stalks 1/4 to 1 inch long, typically S-shaped; seeds flattened, orange to rust-colored.

Habitat:

Sandy or gravelly disturbed areas.

Distribution:

Principally southwest 1/4 of Kansas.

Comments:

Another common name is "popweed", which is in reference to the sound the pods make when crushed. This species is named for Alexander Gordon, a Scottish American botanist.