BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Thelypodium wrightii
Size:
20 - 150 cm
BRASSICACEAE -- Mustard Family
Description:
Erect biennial herb, stems with many slender
branches. Herbage glabrous. Basal leaves 10 -
15 cm long, pinnatifid. Stem leaves linearlanceolate,
3 - 9 cm long, 2 - 20 mm wide,
pinnatifid, wavy-edged or almost smooth-edged.
Flowers perfect, on slender, spreading to
descending stalks, in dense clusters at branch
ends. Sepals 4, about 5 mm long, erect. Petals
4, oblanceolate, exceeding the sepals, tapering
to a narrow base. Stamens 6, almost equal.
Fruit a glabrous, flattened, somewhat lumpy pod
3 - 7.5 cm long, 1 - 1.5 mm wide, with 2
chambers separated by a thin membrane.
Fruiting stalks and fruit horizontal or somewhat
bent downwards.
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Common Name:
Wright’s thelypodium
Color:
White to lavender
Notes:
The genus Thelypodium is native to North
America and contains 18 species, mostly from
the western United States. New Mexico has 2
species. Wright’s thelypodium is tall, but the
stems, branches and leaves are slender, giving
the plant a very delicate appearance. Its
“cotton ball” flowers at branch tips are
distinctive. It blooms from June through
September between 6500 and 8500 ft.
New Mexico Native