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American winter cress

Habit Plants biennial or perennial.
Stems

(1)2–6(10) dm, glabrous.

Basal leaves

glabrous or ciliate basally;

blades (1)1.5–6(11) cm, lyrate-pinnatifid, with (1)2–4(5) lateral lobes,, oblong or ovate, 2–10 × 1–5 mm; terminal lobes > laterals, 15–50 × 10–25 mm;

petioles (0.5)1–7(15) cm.

Cauline leaves

lyrate-pinnatifid, with 1–4 lateral lobes; uppermost incised or pinnatifid;

auricles with hairs or rarely glabrous, sessile.

Inflorescences

fruiting pedicels erect or ascending; (2)3–6(7) mm; narrower than fruits.

Flowers

sepals erect, oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm, yellow;

tips rounded and with hairs or rarely glabrous;

lateral pair slightly saccate;

petals oblanceolate, 5–7(8) × (1.5)2–3 mm, yellow;

styles stout, 0.2–1(2) mm in fruit.

Fruits

(25)31–40(45) × 1.5–2 mm; terete to subquadrangular, torulose; erect to ascending, rarely appressed to rachis.

Seeds

(24)26–36 per fruit; ovate or oblong; plump, 1.2–1.5 × 0.9–1 mm; wingless.

2n

=16.

Barbarea orthoceras

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Alpine meadows, boggy ground, grasslands, sandbars, scree, rocky cliffs, forests, riverbanks, streambanks, disturbed areas. Flowering Mar–Aug. 0–2700 m. All ecoregions except Col. CA, ID, NV, WA; throughout Canada, northern and western US; Asia. Native.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 445
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Sibling taxa
B. verna, B. vulgaris
Synonyms Barbarea orthoceras var. dolichocarpa, Barbarea orthoceras var. orthoceras
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