Native plant identification key for the
Palos Verdes Peninsula, California


Leaves mostly 3 foliate (3 leaflets make up the leaf). Leaves alternate, on petioles ~1-3 cm long. Leaflets are oblong (elongated with somewhat parallel sides) to elliptic (symmetric oval, widest in middle) in shape, ~1.5-2.5 cm long. Margins are entire (smooth), folded or curled lengthwise upward, glabrous (smooth-surfaced) dark green or somewhat grey-green. Densely branched shrub ~0.5-3 m tall. Inflorescence is a raceme or pinnately arranged cluster of individual flowers on their own pedicels (stems) running along the rachis or central axis of the cluster. The raceme ranges from 1-30 cm long at the end of branches, the pedicels from 8-15 mm long. The 4 flower petals are a striking bright yellow ~8-15 mm long and ~4-5 mm wide, with exserted (protruding) yellow stamens ~15-25 mm long and yellow anthers (pollen-bearing structures) ~2-2.5 mm long on very short stiles. Blooms pretty much all year long. Fruit is quite distinctive, a smooth swollen bladder-shaped capsule ~3.5-6 cm long that stays on the plant and dries out, looking a bit like small beige lanterns hanging down on curving stalks ~1-2 cm long. The bladder contains roughly 10 oval or spherical seeds, yellow or brown in color, which rattle around loose in the bladderpod. The plant has an unpleasant odor, perhaps suggesting its common name refers to something other than the distinctive pod shape of the fruit. The plant is common in Palos Verdes and in other coastal areas from the Bay Area into Baja, but it can also be found in the deserts of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills of the Tehachapis and southern Sierra Nevada, ranging from sea level to 1300 m in elevation.

Isomeris arborea aka Cleome isomeris (Capparaceae): bladderpod or bladder pod or coastal bladderpod


First placed on web: 08/10/11
Last revised: 08/10/11
Christine M. Rodrigue, Ph.D., Department of Geography, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840-1101
rodrigue@csulb.edu

The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography, introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various editions of this key.