Lesquerella filiformis Missouri bladderpod is a small yellow-flowered plant in the mustard family found only in southwest Missouri. Missouri bladderpods live on limestone glades and rocky outcroppings and can be locally abundant in rocky pastures. Missouri bladderpod populations are threatened by loss of habitat, mostly from competition with exotic grasses and woody vegetation and from human development in this rapidly growing part of the state. Identification Missouri bladderpod is a herbaceous, annual plant growing 4 to 8 inches tall, producing numerous slender stems from its base.
Leaves are less than an inch long and taper towards the stems.
Both the leaves and the stems have a dense covering of fine hairs, which gives the plant a silvery-gray appearance. Missouri bladderpods flower from April to May, producing showy, 4-petaled, bright yellow blossoms clustered at the tops of the stems. Each fruit contains 4 flattened brown seeds. Bladderpod seeds drop to the ground in late May and early June, lie dormant through the hot summer, and germinate in the fall. They grow in a rosette, which appears as a tiny, button-sized cluster of leaves on the ground.