Thysanocarpus radians is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name ribbed fringepod.[1][2] The plant is also colloquially known as spokepod[3][4] because of its seedpods’ characteristic resemblance to tire spokes. It is native to northern and central California and Oregon, where it grows in moist meadows, fields, hillsides, and other habitat. It is an annual herb growing up to 50 or 60 centimeters tall. The leaves are wavy-edged or lobed, the basal ones up to 5 centimeters long and ephemeral, and the upper ones with bases clasping the stem. The inflorescence is a long, open raceme of small whitish or purplish flowers. The fruit is a flattened, rounded, disclike capsule which hangs from its pedicel. It measures up to a centimeter long and is hairless to quite hairy in texture. The flat wing lining the edge of the disc is ribbed with rays like the spokes of a wheel, a characteristic making it easily distinguished from other Thysanocarpus when it is in fruit.

Thysanocarpus radians
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Thysanocarpus
Species:
T. radians
Binomial name
Thysanocarpus radians

References

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  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Thysanocarpus radians​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Thysanocarpus radians". ucjeps.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  3. ^ "SPOKEPOD". Sacramento Splash. 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  4. ^ "THE SURROUNDING SEA: A REVISED LOOK AT ANNUAL GRASSLANDS" (PDF). California Native Plant Society. 32 (2). April 2004.
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