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hoary rockcress

rockcress

Habit Plants short-lived perennial; with non-woody caudices. Herbs biennial or perennial; caudices present.
Stems

(1)2–6.3 dm, pubescent with many short-stalked, 3–8-rayed trichomes.

Basal leaves

oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 1.5–5 mm wide;

margins usually dentate, not ciliate;

surfaces densely pubescent with short-stalked, 5–12-rayed trichomes.

rosulate or not; simple;

margins entire or dentate, petiolate.

Cauline leaves

7–45(65), concealing stem proximally, bases of some leaves auriculate; uppermost pubescent.

bases usually auriculate;

margins entire or dentate, sessile or short-petiolate.

Inflorescences

10–40(64)-flowered, fruiting pedicels arched, recurved above horizontal to ascending bases, 4–10 mm, with appressed, branched trichomes.

racemes;

bracts 0.

Flowers

sexual, ascending to descending at anthesis;

sepals pubescent;

petals 5–9 × 0.8–1.8 mm, white to lavender;

pollen ellipsoid;

ovules 38–64 per ovary;

styles 0.01–0.1 mm.

sepals ovate or oblong;

lateral pair slightly saccate or not;

petals spatulate or oblanceolate, white, pink, or purple;

claws < sepals or undifferentiated;

petal tips obtuse, nectar glands confluent, subtending bases of all stamens;

stamens 6, tetradynamous;

anthers ovate or oblong, obtuse;

pollen ellipsoid (sexual plants) or spheroid (apomictic);

ovules 8–216 per ovary;

septa complete;

styles obsolete or distinct;

stigmas capitate; entire.

Fruits

closely pendent, rarely appressed to rachis, not secund, mostly straight, 3–6.5 cm × 1.9–2.2 mm;

margins parallel, pubescent.

dehiscent siliques, linear, rarely oblong or lanceolate, latiseptate, unsegmented;

valves smooth or torulose; replums rounded.

Seeds

uniseriate, 1.4–1.8 × 1–1.4 mm;

wings continuous, 0.1–0.3 mm wide.

20+ per fruit, uniseriate or biseriate, oblong or orbicular, flattened, not mucilaginous when wetted, winged or rarely wingless;

cotyledons accumbent.

Trichomes

simple and/or branched, stalked or sessile, 2–14-rayed, forked or dendritic, rarely malpighiaceous.

2n

=14.

Boechera puberula

Boechera

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Rocky slopes, ledges, gravelly hillsides in sagebrush, pinyon-juniper forests. Flowering Apr–Jul. 800–3000 m. BR, BW, Casc, ECas, Lava, Owy. CA, ID, NV, WA; southeast to UT. Native.

Eastern Asia, North America. ~110 species; 33 treated in Flora.

Boechera is by far the most taxonomically complex genus within the family. Over 60% of the species are sexual diploids (n=7) with small ellipsoid pollen, while the rest are apomictic triploids (n=21) with larger globose pollen (though some species are both sexual and apomictic). Wherever the ranges of diploids overlap they hybridize, and the production of unreduced pollen eventually leads to the formation of apomictic triploid hybrids. The hybrids are also stable, often widespread, and produce viable apomictic seeds. As such, they should be treated as distinct species. In order to correctly identify species, careful study of the trichome types, as well as pollen morphology (at least under a dissecting microscope with high magnification), is often required.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 456
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 447
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Sibling taxa
B. acutina, B. atrorubens, B. breweri, B. calderi, B. cascadensis, B. cobrensis, B. covillei, B. cusickii, B. davidsonii, B. divaricarpa, B. drepanoloba, B. hastatula, B. horizontalis, B. howellii, B. koehleri, B. lemmonii, B. lyallii, B. microphylla, B. paddoensis, B. pauciflora, B. paupercula, B. pendulocarpa, B. pinetorum, B. platysperma, B. pratincola, B. rectissima, B. retrofracta, B. rollei, B. sparsiflora, B. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens
Subordinate taxa
B. acutina, B. atrorubens, B. breweri, B. calderi, B. cascadensis, B. cobrensis, B. covillei, B. cusickii, B. davidsonii, B. divaricarpa, B. drepanoloba, B. hastatula, B. horizontalis, B. howellii, B. koehleri, B. lemmonii, B. lyallii, B. microphylla, B. paddoensis, B. pauciflora, B. paupercula, B. pendulocarpa, B. pinetorum, B. platysperma, B. pratincola, B. puberula, B. rectissima, B. retrofracta, B. rollei, B. sparsiflora, B. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens
Synonyms Arabis puberula
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