BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Pennellia longifolia
Size:
50 - 100 cm
BRASSICACEAE -- Mustard Family
Description:
Erect biennial herb, stems long, slender,
straight, branched above, with simple or forked
hairs below, glabrous above. Basal leaves on
petioles, oblanceolate, 4 - 8 cm long, present
only first year. Stem leaves alternate, few,
linear, mostly sessile, lower with simple or
branched hairs, upper glabrous. Flowers
perfect, on stalks, distantly spaced along stem
and branch ends, usually on one side. Calyx
urn-shaped, with 4 distinct erect sepals,
glabrous, purplish. Petals 4, strap-shaped, 4.5 -
6 mm long, barely exceeding sepals. Fruiting
stalks arching downward, 8 - 11mm long,
expanded at the apex. Pods narrowly
cylindrical, glabrous, 6 - 8 cm long, pendant.
162
Common Name:
Longleaf false thelypodium
Color:
Purplish
Notes:
The genus Pennellia is named for Francis
Whittier Pennell (1886-1952), curator of botany
at the Academy of Natural Science in
Philadelphia, and authority on the Figwort
family (Scrophulariaceae). Pennellia is
represented by 8 species in North America, all
from the American Southwest and Mexico.
New Mexico has 2 species. The flowers of P.
longifolia have petals scarcely longer than the
supporting sepals. The flowers seem to go from
bud directly to fruit. The closely related
Pennellia micrantha also occurs in the
Manzanos, but its pods point stiffly upward.
False thelododium blooms from July into
September between 6000 and 9000 ft.
New Mexico Native