BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Salazaria mexicana | Bladdersage 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Bladdersage is a native, perennial, rhizomatous, rounded to straggly,
intricately branched shrub 1 to 3.5 feet (0.3-1 m) tall [8,15,17,29,31].
It is usually sparsely leaved [23].  The mature plants form a dense
tangled clump of intertwined living and dead stems [4].  The branches
are spine tipped with papery bladders scattered over the surface [15].
The leaves are 0.3 inch (8 mm) wide and 0.2 to 1 inch (5-25 mm) long,
thickish, and leathery [23].  The flowers are in loose racemes 2 to 4
inches (5-10 cm) long [15,17,29,31].  The calyx is pouch shaped and
about 0.37 inch (0.95 cm) long.  At maturity it is bladdery and inflated
(0.5 to 0.75 inch [1.3-1.9 cm] in diameter), enclosing four nutlets
[29].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Bladdersage reproduces by seed.  The flowers are animal pollinated and
the seeds are dispersed by wind [19].  Seeds are highly viable during
the first year after they are produced, but viability decreases by 1.5
years.  The percent germination of bladdersage seeds collected in summer
and late fall of 1973 was as follows [22]:

                              storage conditions
date observed        warehouse    -15 deg C  4 deg C   room temp.
December 1973            84         N/A         N/A      N/A    
January 1975             92         83          94       91
May 1975                 33         44          44       43


Bladdersage also reproduces by sprouting from rhizomes [4].  Comstock
and others [4] described the growth of bladdersage on a Mojave Desert
study site as follows:  Shoots originated from underground rhizomes and
reached a height of 1.6 to 3.3 feet (0.5-1.0 m) in the first year.  For
the next 2 to 5 years whorls of short side branches originated
repeatedly from the uppermost nodes forming short floral shoots and ever
more tangled whorls of old twigs.  Twig lifespans were variable.  Shoots
originating from rhizomes lasted 3 to 5 years and the short floral
side branches often died back during their first drought [4].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Bladdersage is commonly found on sandy, gravelly, or clayey soils in dry
washes and canyons, on desert hillsides and mesas, and along arroyos
[8,11,20].  It grows best on sunny sites [26].  Bladdersage commonly
occurs at the following elevations:

Arizona - below 3,000 feet (914 m) [11] 
California - below 5,000 feet (1,524 m)[17]
Trans-Pecos Texas - 2,200 to 3,100 feet (670-944 m) [20]
Utah - 3,083 to 4,593 feet (940-1,400 m) [31]


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Bladdersage can apparently be found in most stages of succession.  Wells
[30] described it as a pioneer shrub typically found in disturbed areas.
Bladdersage density was 81 plants per acre (202 plants/ha) and frequency
was 20 percent on a 33-year-old abandoned street system of a Nevada
ghost town [30].  In the Mojave Desert bladdersage is a long-lived shrub
present in later stages of desert succession [27,28].  According to
Vasek and Barbour [27] bladdersage prefers undisturbed sites and usually
decreases in relative abundance with soil disturbance.  On a sandy
bajada in California, bladdersage was present in an old, stable
creosotebush scrub community [27].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Bladdersage generally flowers from March through June [15,17,23].  Its
leaves are drought deciduous [4].

Related categories for Species: Salazaria mexicana | Bladdersage