Erect to sprawling stems reach 4–14 inches tall or long with a loose cluster of basal leaves (not mat-like). Note the flower stem leaves do not densely overlap and the fruit are inflated round to egg-shaped capsules. Physaria were formerly called Lesquerella.

FLOWER: April–August. Crowded, rounded flower clusters are on stems held well above the clump of basal leaves; 4 small, yellow petals 1/4–1/2 inch long (6-13 mm). Fruit a spherical to egg-shaped, inflated, hairless capsule 1/8–1/4 inch long (4–7 mm), tipped with a persistent, pointed style. The stem elongates in fruit and the pedicels curve upward to hold the capsules erect along the stem below the flower cluster.

LEAVES: Basal in loose clump, blades with base tapering to stem, blades elliptic to diamond shaped. Stem leaves alternate; blades spatula-shaped to elliptic or diamond-shaped, 3/4-1 5/8 inches long (1–4 cm); margins entire; leaves not overlapping or only loosely so. Basal leaves do not form dense mat-like tufts. The leaves and stem have hairs with 6–8 branching rays (use lens).

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky soils; canyons, slopes, ridges, plains, springs, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands, ponderosa-Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,500–10,6700 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Fendleri’s Bladderpod, P. fendleri and Gordon’s Bladderpod, P. gordonii, are more of a desert species. Ivey’s Bladderpod. P. iveyana, on limestone ridges of the Sandia Crest above 10,000 feet, has mat-like basal leaves and the flowers within the leaves (see photo).

NM COUNTIES: In the western half of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Dona Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Valencia.