Boechera puberula |
Boechera |
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hoary rockcress |
rockcress |
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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. |
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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. |
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2n | =14. |
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Boechera puberula |
Boechera |
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Distribution | ||
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 | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Arabis puberula | |
Web links |
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