BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Lesquerella fendleri
Size:
5 - 25 cm
BRASSICACEAE -- Mustard Family
Description:
Synonym: Physaria fendleri.
Perennial herb, stems several, clumped, mostly
unbranched. Herbage with a dense covering of
star-shaped hairs. Basal leaves elliptic, 1 - 4 cm
long, 1 - 6 mm wide, elliptic, edges smooth or
slightly toothed, tapering to a slender petiole.
Stem leaves mostly linear, alternate, 5 - 25 mm
long, 1 - 5 mm wide, tapering to the petiole.
Flowers perfect, on straight or sinuous stalks 7 -
15 mm long, in dense clusters at stem ends, the
clusters exceeding the leaves. Sepals 4, elliptic
to oblong, 5 - 8 mm long. Petals 4, obovate, 6 -
12 mm long, tapering to a narrow base. Fruit an
inflated ellipsoid to ovoid two-chambered,
glabrous pod.
159
Common Name:
Fendler’s bladderpod
Color:
Yellow
Notes:
The genus Lesquerella is named for Leo
Lesquereux (1805-1899), the father of
American paleobotany. Lesquereux started his
botanical career as an assistant to William
Starling Sullivant, America’s first great scholar
of mosses. Despite profound deafness,
Lesquereux became a great botanist and
essentially founded the science of paleobotany
in the United States. Fendler bladderpod is
common throughout New Mexico. It blooms
from late April through June between 3500 and
7500 ft.
New Mexico Native