Zapata bladderpod

Lesquerella thamnophila Rollins & E. A. Shaw, Gen. Lesquerella, 86, plates 15, 16. 1973

Perennials; caudex simple or branched, (woody); densely (silvery) pubescent, trichomes (short-stalked), 4-8-rayed, rays furcate or bifurcate, (finely tuberculate throughout). Stems simple or few from base, decumbent, (straggling and flexuous, usually branched distally), 4-8 dm. Basal leaves: blade narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 4-12 cm, margins entire, sinuate, or shallowly dentate, (apex acute). Cauline leaves (sessile or proximal shortly petiolate); blade linear to narrowly elliptic, 3-4 cm, margins entire, sinuate, or remotely dentate, (apex acute). Racemes loose, (sometimes greatly elongated). Fruiting pedicels (recurved), 15-20(-25) mm. Flowers: sepals elliptic, 3.5-4 mm, (lateral pair subsaccate, median pair thickened apically, cucullate); petals broadly obovate, 4-5 mm, (sometimes with short, broad claw). Fruits (pendent), subglobose or broadly ovoid, slightly compressed, 5-7 mm; valves (not retaining seeds after dehiscence), glabrous throughout; ovules per ovary unknown; style 1.5-2 mm. Seeds flattened. 2n = 16.

Flowering Apr. Sandy soils, entangled in shrubs, cactus clumps; of conservation concern; 1700-1800 m; Tex.

Physaria thamnophila is found in sandy areas with shrubs and cactus in sparse shrubland communities of Starr and Zapata counties. It sometimes flowers through September with sufficient moisture.