Physaria alpestris

Physaria alpestris

General: Perennial herbs from a thick, branched crown, the numerous, erect to decumbent stems 5-15 cm. long; herbage silvery with tiny, appressed stellate hairs.
Leaves: Basal leaves numerous, 4-8 cm. long, the blade entire, oblanceolate or obovate, tapered to a slender petiole at least as long; cauline leaves alternate, reduced, oblanceolate.
Flowers: Inflorescence of short, crowded, bractless racemes; pedicles ascending, 10-15 mm. long; sepals 4, the outer pair saccate at the base; petals 4, yellow, spatulate, 8-14 mm. long; stamens 6; style 5-7 mm. long.
Fruits: Silicles strongly inflated, developed in pairs, 14-18 mm. long and broad, shallowly cordate at the base, the apical sinus open, 2-3 mm. deep.
Physaria alpestris Geotagged,Physaria alpestris,Spring,United States

Appearance

Low, silvery green, hairy plant with yellow flowers.
Washington Twinpod This little plant will actually become more interesting looking when it's seed pods form. The plant forms air bladders larger than the flowers that have a greenish to delicate pink-orange color. It is endemic to Washington, and though not particularly hard to find, fairly rare because it is one of the plants that grows only in isolated communities on serpentine outcrops. Geotagged,Physaria alpestris,Spring,United States

Naming

Lesquerella alpestris

Distribution

East side of the Cascades in Washington, Chelan County to Mt. Adams.

Habitat

Open rocky areas, mid- to high elevations in the mountains.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Lesquerella&Species=occidentalis
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderBrassicales
FamilyBrassicaceae
GenusPhysaria
SpeciesPhysaria alpestris
Photographed in
United States of America