The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Brewer's rock-cress

Columbia rockcress, few-flower rock-cress, fuzzy suncress, hairy-stem rock-cress, small-flower rockcress

Habit Perennials; long-lived; sexual; caudex woody. Perennials; short- to long-lived; apomictic; caudex sometimes woody.
Stems

usually 1 per caudex branch, arising from center of rosette, somewhat elevated on woody base or from ground surface, 0.6–3.5(–4.5) dm, densely pubescent proximally, trichomes long-stalked and simple, 2-rayed (sometimes all simple), 0.4–1 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrous distally.

usually 1 per caudex branch, arising from center of rosette near ground surface, (1.4–)3–11.2 dm, densely pubescent proximally, trichomes simple, 0.6–1.5 mm, mixed with stalked, 2- (or 3-)rayed ones, 0.2–0.4 mm, sparsely pubescent distally.

Basal leaves

blade oblanceolate, 3–7(–11) mm wide, margins entire or dentate, ciliate proximally, trichomes to 1 mm, surfaces densely pubescent, trichomes long-stalked, 2–4-rayed, 0.4–0.8 mm.

blade oblanceolate, 3–10 mm wide, margins usually dentate, rarely entire, sometimes ciliate, trichomes (simple or branched), to 1 mm, surfaces densely pubescent, trichomes stalked, 2–5-rayed, 0.3–0.6 mm.

Cauline leaves

5–15(–28), often concealing stem proximally;

blade auricles 0.5–3(–5) mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves pubescent.

(8–)14–60, often concealing stem proximally;

blade auricles (1–)3–10 mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Racemes

7–20(–30)-flowered, usually unbranched.

17–60-flowered, usually unbranched.

Flowers

ascending at anthesis;

sepals pubescent;

petals usually purple (rarely lavender), 7–12 × 2–4 mm, glabrous;

pollen ellipsoid.

divaricate at anthesis;

sepals pubescent;

petals lavender to whitish, 5–8 × 1–2 mm, glabrous;

pollen spheroid.

Fruiting pedicels

ascending to divaricate-ascending, straight, 3–25 mm, pubescent or glabrous, trichomes spreading, simple and 2-rayed.

horizontal to divaricate-descending, usually straight, rarely slightly recurved, 4–13 mm, pubescent, trichomes spreading, 2- or 3-rayed.

Fruits

ascending to divaricate-ascending, not appressed to rachis, not secund, usually curved, rarely straight, edges parallel, 3.5–10 cm × 1.5–2.2 mm;

valves usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent;

ovules 48–96 per ovary;

style 0.05–0.3 mm.

horizontal, divaricate-descending or widely pendent, not appressed to rachis, not secund, curved, edges parallel, 5.5–10.5 cm × 1.5–2.2 mm;

valves glabrous;

ovules 80–162 per ovary;

style 0.05–0.5 mm.

Seeds

uniseriate, 1.2–1.7 × 1–1.2 mm;

wing continuous, 0.1–0.2 mm wide distally.

uniseriate, 1.4–1.8 × 1–1.4 mm;

wing continuous, 0.1–0.25 mm wide.

2n

= 21.

Boechera breweri

Boechera pauciflora

Phenology Flowering May–Jun.
Habitat Rocky soil in sagebrush areas, mountain shrub communities, edges of conifer forests
Elevation 600-2500 m (2000-8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Relatively few other sexual diploid species of Boechera co-occur with B. breweri, and the only currently recognized hybrid involving this taxon is B. rubicundula (= B. arcuata × B. breweri; M. D. Windham and I. A. Al-Shehbaz 2007). Boechera breweri appears to be related to B. sparsiflora, and some specimens of subsp. shastaensis can be difficult to separate from that species. The two subspecies appear to intergrade on the western side of the Sacramento Valley from Tehama to Solano counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Morphological evidence suggests that Boechera pauciflora is an apomictic species that arose through hybridization between B. retrofracta and B. sparsiflora. Specimens of B. pauciflora are commonly identified as Arabis holboellii var. pinetorum (= B. pinetorum), a superficially similar species restricted to the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range (see M. D. Windham and I. A. 2007 for detailed comparison).

Arabis elegans A. Nelson (1900), not Tineo & Lojacono (1886) is an illegitimate name, sometimes found in synonymy with Boechera pauciflora.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Stems 0.6-2 dm, pubescent distally; fruiting pedicels 3-8(-12) mm, pubescent; fruits 3.5-7.5 cm.
subsp. breweri
1. Stems 1.8-3.5(-4.5) dm, glabrous distally; fruiting pedicels (7-)10-25 mm, usually glabrous; fruits (4.5-)7-10 cm.
subsp. shastaensis
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 367. FNA vol. 7, p. 393.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera
Sibling taxa
B. acutina, B. arcuata, B. atrorubens, B. bodiensis, B. burkii, B. calderi, B. californica, B. canadensis, B. cascadensis, B. cobrensis, B. collinsii, B. consanguinea, B. constancei, B. covillei, B. crandallii, B. cusickii, B. davidsonii, B. dentata, B. depauperata, B. dispar, B. divaricarpa, B. drepanoloba, B. duchesnensis, B. elkoensis, B. evadens, B. falcatoria, B. falcifructa, B. fecunda, B. fendleri, B. fernaldiana, B. formosa, B. fructicosa, B. glareosa, B. glaucovalvula, B. goodrichii, B. gracilenta, B. gracilipes, B. grahamii, B. gunnisoniana, B. harrisonii, B. hastatula, B. hoffmannii, B. holboellii, B. horizontalis, B. howellii, B. inyoensis, B. johnstonii, B. koehleri, B. laevigata, B. languida, B. lasiocarpa, B. lemmonii, B. lignifera, B. lincolnensis, B. lyallii, B. macounii, B. microphylla, B. missouriensis, B. nevadensis, B. ophira, B. oxylobula, B. paddoensis, B. pallidifolia, B. parishii, B. pauciflora, B. paupercula, B. peirsonii, B. pendulina, B. pendulocarpa, B. perennans, B. perstellata, B. pinetorum, B. pinzliae, B. platysperma, B. polyantha, B. porphyrea, B. pratincola, B. puberula, B. pulchra, B. pusilla, B. pygmaea, B. quebecensis, B. rectissima, B. repanda, B. retrofracta, B. rigidissima, B. rollei, B. rollinsiorum, B. rubicundula, B. saximontana, B. schistacea, B. serotina, B. serpenticola, B. shevockii, B. shockleyi, B. sparsiflora, B. spatifolia, B. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens, B. texana, B. tiehmii, B. tularensis, B. ultra-alsa, B. villosa, B. williamsii, B. xylopoda, B. yorkii
B. acutina, B. arcuata, B. atrorubens, B. bodiensis, B. breweri, B. burkii, B. calderi, B. californica, B. canadensis, B. cascadensis, B. cobrensis, B. collinsii, B. consanguinea, B. constancei, B. covillei, B. crandallii, B. cusickii, B. davidsonii, B. dentata, B. depauperata, B. dispar, B. divaricarpa, B. drepanoloba, B. duchesnensis, B. elkoensis, B. evadens, B. falcatoria, B. falcifructa, B. fecunda, B. fendleri, B. fernaldiana, B. formosa, B. fructicosa, B. glareosa, B. glaucovalvula, B. goodrichii, B. gracilenta, B. gracilipes, B. grahamii, B. gunnisoniana, B. harrisonii, B. hastatula, B. hoffmannii, B. holboellii, B. horizontalis, B. howellii, B. inyoensis, B. johnstonii, B. koehleri, B. laevigata, B. languida, B. lasiocarpa, B. lemmonii, B. lignifera, B. lincolnensis, B. lyallii, B. macounii, B. microphylla, B. missouriensis, B. nevadensis, B. ophira, B. oxylobula, B. paddoensis, B. pallidifolia, B. parishii, B. paupercula, B. peirsonii, B. pendulina, B. pendulocarpa, B. perennans, B. perstellata, B. pinetorum, B. pinzliae, B. platysperma, B. polyantha, B. porphyrea, B. pratincola, B. puberula, B. pulchra, B. pusilla, B. pygmaea, B. quebecensis, B. rectissima, B. repanda, B. retrofracta, B. rigidissima, B. rollei, B. rollinsiorum, B. rubicundula, B. saximontana, B. schistacea, B. serotina, B. serpenticola, B. shevockii, B. shockleyi, B. sparsiflora, B. spatifolia, B. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens, B. texana, B. tiehmii, B. tularensis, B. ultra-alsa, B. villosa, B. williamsii, B. xylopoda, B. yorkii
Subordinate taxa
B. breweri subsp. breweri, B. breweri subsp. shastaensis
Synonyms Arabis breweri, Arabis breweri var. figularis, Arabis epilobioides Sisymbrium pauciflorum, Arabis arcuata var. subvillosa, Arabis columbiana, Arabis perelegans, Arabis sparsiflora var. columbiana, Arabis sparsiflora var. subvillosa, B. sparsiflora var. subvillosa
Name authority (S. Watson) Al-Shehbaz: Novon 13: 384. (2003) (Nuttall) Windham & Al-Shehbaz: Harvard Pap. Bot. 11: 268. (2007)
Web links