Peritoma arborea (Bladderpod)

 3/13/05 Cottonwood Road near south boundary to Joshua Tree National Park, 

Riverside County, CA

4/13/02 Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, Orange County, CA

4/4/17 Near Visitor Center, Ricardo Campground, Red Rock Canyon State Park,
Kern County, CA

4/13/97 Picnic Area, Cottonwood Springs, Joshua Tree National Park, Riverside County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Bladderpod

SPECIES: Peritoma arborea

FAMILY: Cleomaceae (Spiderflower Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 4/13/1997

LOCATION: Picnic Area, Cottonwood Springs, Joshua Tree National Park, Riverside County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Shrub, profusely branched, generally 5–20 dm, minutely hairy

Leaf: petiole 1–3 cm; leaflets generally 3, 15–45 mm, oblong-elliptic

Inflorescence: raceme, 1–30 cm, terminal; pedicels 8–15 mm, thicker in fruit

Flower: sepals fused in basal half, 4–7 mm, ± entire, green; petals 8–14 mm, 4–5 mm wide, sessile, yellow; stamens 15–25 mm, yellow, anthers 2–2.5 mm; style 0.9–1.2 mm or pistil aborting in bud

Fruit: capsule, tardily dehiscent, 3–4 cm, inflated, oblong to ± spheric, smooth, leathery, light brown; valves 2–3; receptacle stalk-like, 1–2 cm, stout, reflexed

Ecology: Common. Coastal bluffs, hills, desert washes, flats

Elevation: 0–1300 m.  

Bioregional distribution: s Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi Mountain Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, South Coast, Channel Islands, Desert 

Distribution outside California: to Baja California

Flowering time: Most of year

Synonyms: Cleome isomeris Greene 

Varieties  angustata Parish,  globosa Coville ,  insularis Jeps. have been recognized based on fruit variation that may be loosely correlated with geography

Horticultural information: DRN, SUN, DRY: 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; IRR: 12, 13; STBL.

From Jepson e-Flora:

Annual, perennial herb, shrub, often ill-smelling. 

Leaf: generally 1-palmate, generally alternate, generally petioled; stipules generally minute, often bristle-like or hairy; leaflets 0 or 3--7. 

Inflorescence: raceme, head, or flowers 1, expanded in fruit; bracts generally 3-parted below, simple above, or 0. 

Flower: generally bisexual, radial to +- bilateral; sepals generally 4, free or fused, generally persistent; petals generally 4, free, +- clawed; stamens generally 6, free, exserted, anthers generally coiling at dehiscence; ovary superior, generally on stalk-like receptacle, chamber generally 1, placentas generally 2, parietal, style 1, persistent, stigma generally minute, +- head-like. 

Fruit: 2 nutlets or generally capsule, septicidal; valves generally 2, deciduous, leaving septum (frame-like placentas) behind; pedicel generally +- reflexed to spreading. 

Genera In Family: 17 genera, +- 150 species: widespread tropics to arid temperate. 

Note: Treated as Capparaceae in TJM (1993). 

eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Staria S. Vanderpool