Search / Plant Profile / Physaria globosa

Plant Profile

Globe Bladderpod (Physaria globosa)

This tiny little mustard has yellow, spoon shaped petals on flowers that can be found from April to June. Photo Credit: Lucille McCook

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Endangered
Family: Brassicaceae
State: IN, KY, TN
Nature Serve ID: 141118
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 03/15/1995

Description:

Physaria globosa is a diminutive plant that is covered with dense hairs that give its leaves a gray-green appearance. The small flowers have beautiful spoon-shaped petals that are displayed from April to early June. The name of the plant is derived from the globe-shaped fruits it produces.

Where is Globe Bladderpod (Physaria globosa) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Physaria globosa occurs on steep, rocky, wooded slopes and talus areas at the base of these slopes, also on the top of ledges and at the base of cliffs. All known populations occur on south to west facing slopes (Shea 1993). Common woody associates include: Acer negundo, Aesculus glabra, and Ulmus americana. Herbaceous associates include: Galium aparine, Lamium sp., Silene virginica and Polygonatum biflorum.

Distribution:

Five counties in northeastern Kentucky, five counties in north central Tennessee, and one county in southern Indiana.

States & Provinces:

Globe Bladderpod can be found in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee

Which CPC Partners conserve Globe Bladderpod (Physaria globosa)?

Missouri Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/09/17

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 08/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Matthew Albrecht

11/30/2022

On June 1, 2021, Noah Dell and Brad Delfeld from the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) collected seed of Physaria globosa from a small, but productive roadside population adjacent to the Cumberland River, just south of Ashland City, Tennessee. Like many P. globosa populations in the area, the plants can be found downslope of road cuts between the road and the river where plants persist in woodland openings with disturbed soils. We obtained 571 seeds from 12 individuals, and sent 150 seeds to the National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation as part of the IMLS Seed Longevity Project. We used the remaining seeds in an experiment in which we assessed the effect of collection time on the dormancy state of seeds. Since racemes grow acropetally, from the base upward, and flowering at the apical portion often occurs simultaneously with fruiting at the basal portion, there is potential for differences in the maternal environment to affect seed dormancy status. We found that dormancy did not vary between seeds collected at the beginning or the end of June, and that seeds are largely dormant at the time of dispersal.

Center for Plant Conservation

08/19/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted Missouri Botanical Garden to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage.

10/17/2020

In 2013, Fuentes-Soriano and Al-Shehbaz conducted a molecular phylogeny of the tribe Physarieae which provided evidence that Physaria and Paysonia are monophyletic genera that form a clade, but are not yet resolved taxonomically at a species level.

10/17/2020

In 2018, Missouri Botanical Garden initiated a seed germination ecology experiment seeking to determine the underlying nature of dormancy in Physaria globosa, as well as seed bank longevity and seed viability. In 2018, Missouri Botanical Garden collected seeds from two populations in Kentucky (EO #18 and 28) and five populations in Tennessee (EO #3, 4, 10, 12, and 28) resulting in the acquisition of approximately 12,000 seeds from Tennessee and 127 seeds from Kentucky for seed bank storage after initiating germination and seed bank longevity, and viability experiments using seeds collected from the Tennessee populations.

10/17/2020

In 2018, Missouri Botanical Garden collected seeds from two populations in Kentucky (EO #18 and 28) and five populations in Tennessee (EO #3, 4, 10, 12, and 28) resulting in the acquisition of approximately 12,000 seeds from Tennessee and 127 seeds from Kentucky for seed bank storage after initiating germination and seed bank longevity, and viability experiments using seeds collected from the Tennessee populations.

10/17/2020

Matthew Albrecht

02/20/2019

In 2013, Fuentes-Soriano and Al-Shehbaz conducted a molecular phylogeny of the tribe Physarieae which provided evidence that Physaria and Paysonia are monophyletic genera that form a clade, but are not yet resolved taxonomically at a species level.

Matthew Albrecht

02/20/2019

In 2018, Missouri Botanical Garden initiated a seed germination ecology experiment seeking to determine the underlying nature of dormancy in Physaria globosa, as well as seed bank longevity and seed viability.

Matthew Albrecht

02/20/2019

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Endemic to the Interior Low Plateaus Province, from middle Tennessee through north-central Kentucky and into southern Indiana. twenty-five sites are currently known, most with very few plants in most years, generally about 2,000-2,800 plants altogether. This species exhibits wide population changes from year to year due to variable germination and seedling survival levels in its arid microhabitat (many biennials have a wide fluctuation in numbers from year to year). Road construction and maintenance activities such as herbicide use, grading of road shoulders, and mowing during the growing season continue to threaten many of the sites. Exotic species are also a significant ongoing threat. Some sites adjacent to rivers are threatened by water-level manipulation.

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

Road construction Roadside mowing and maintenance Trash dumping Grazing Competition with invasive species and possibly excessive shading (Shea 1993; USFWS 2002)

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

There were at least 57 sites that historically supported Shorts bladderpod. Of these 57 sites, only 33 are currently known: Eighteen known locations for Shorts bladderpod in Tennessee Fourteen known locations in Kentucky One known location in Indiana (USFWS 2002) All remaining populations are small and vulnerable to extirpation. Numbers of individuals in known populations range from a few to several hundred. The number of individuals at a site will vary from year to year. (Shea 1993)

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

None known

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

None known.

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

Studies of reproductive biology are deemed critical. Use of herbicides along roads where P. globosa occurs should be eliminated.

Kimberlie McCue, Ph.D.

01/01/2010

Greenhouse (and field) studies are needed to determine appropriate light levels for the species. This will inform management on the efficacy of opening canopy to increase light levels for P. globosa populations.