{"id":298,"date":"2025-01-01T09:53:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T17:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/?p=298"},"modified":"2025-05-01T13:54:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T20:54:23","slug":"flatpod-idahoa-scapigera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/2025\/01\/01\/flatpod-idahoa-scapigera\/","title":{"rendered":"Flatpod (Idahoa scapigera)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With somewhere between 391,000 and 422,000 vascular plant species on the planet (give or take), it can be a challenge coming up with unique scientific names for every genus and species. Taxonomists adhere to rules laid down by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, one of which is that the same name cannot be used for two different genera within the plant kingdom (though the same name can be used across kingdoms, such as Prunella<\/em>, which botanists recognize as a kind of mint, but birders know as accentors — sparrow-like birds from Eurasia). If the same name is used accidentally, the first validly published name takes precedence. Species named later then need to have a new name assigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Flatpod is an annual herb in the mustard family (Brassicaceae) that occurs on rocky soils in sagebrush communities from southern British Columbia and western Montana to Idaho, NW Nevada, and northern California. The common name derives from its round and flattened fruit pods, which are borne singly on a slender, naked stalk above a whorl of oval or triangular leaves. The pods often have irregular red or purple splotches on the otherwise green surface. Flatpod is one of the earliest species to bloom in the high desert, and so most people don\u2019t see it in flower. The fruitpods persist as a round, translucent, membrane (called a replum) long after the seeds and outer fruit walls are shed (much like Lunaria<\/em>, a.k.a. honesty or silver dollar plant, another mustard species grown as a garden curio).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1913, University of Wyoming botanists Aven Nelson and J. Francis Macbride recognized that the Latin name originally assigned to flatpod, Platyspermum<\/em> (literally \u201cflat pod\u201d) had previously been used for another plant in the umbel family (Apiaceae) and thus was invalid based on the naming rules. Nelson and Macbride noted that the single species in the genus, P. scapigera<\/em>, was widespread in Idaho, and decided to rename the species Idahoa scapigera<\/em> for the Gem State. Idaho is one of several states (all in the west) that have been memorialized as genus names. These include Nevada<\/em> (another mustard), California<\/em> (a member of the Geranium family), Wyomingia<\/em> (now included in Erigeron<\/em>), and Coloradoa<\/em> and Utahia<\/em> (both types of cacti now included in Sclerocactus<\/em> and Pediocactus<\/em>). Washington has been used three times as a genus name (in clear violation of the rules!) for what is now giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron<\/em>), sweet-cicely (now Osmorhiza<\/em> in the umbel family), and native fan palms of the southwestern US and Mexico (Washingtonia<\/em>). Technically, the palm and sequoia were named for President George Washington, and not the state, as it did not exist yet when those names were published. \u2013 Walter Fertig 1 January 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Flatpod<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n
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\"Flatpod
Photo by Maddy Lucas (iNaturalist).
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With somewhere between 391,000 and 422,000 vascular plant species on the planet (give or take), it can be a challenge coming up with unique scientific names for every genus and species. Taxonomists adhere to rules laid down by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, one of which is that the same name cannot be used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}