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Habit Perennials; long-lived; (cespitose); sexual; caudex somewhat woody (sometimes with persistent, crowded leaf bases).
Stems

usually 1 per caudex branch, arising from center of rosette, near ground surface or slightly elevated on woody base, 1–3.8 dm, densely pubescent proximally, trichomes short-stalked, 4–8-rayed, 0.04–0.1 mm, sometimes mixed with stalked, 2-rayed ones, to 0.5 mm, usually sparsely pubescent distally.

Basal leaves

blade narrowly oblanceolate, 1–4 mm wide, margins entire, ciliate along petiole, trichomes (simple), to 1 mm, surfaces densely pubescent, trichomes short-stalked, 4–8-rayed, 0.04–0.1 mm.

Cauline leaves

5–10, not concealing stem;

blade auricles 0.3–2 mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves usually sparsely pubescent.

Racemes

10–20-flowered, usually unbranched.

Flowers

ascending at anthesis;

sepals (purplish or greenish) glabrous or sparsely or moderately pubescent;

petals white or purple to lavender, 7–12 × 1.5–4 mm, glabrous;

pollen ellipsoid.

Fruiting pedicels

divaricate-ascending, straight, 5–20 mm, sparsely pubescent, trichomes appressed, branched.

Fruits

divaricate-ascending, not appressed to rachis, not secund, straight or curved, edges parallel, 3.5–6.5(–7.5) cm × 1–1.6 mm;

valves glabrous;

ovules 30–72 per ovary;

style 0.1–1 mm.

Seeds

uniseriate, 1–1.2 × 0.8–1 mm;

wing continuous, ca. 0.1 mm wide.

Petals

purple to lavender;

sepals purplish, moderately to sparsely pubescent.

Boechera fernaldiana subsp. fernaldiana

Boechera fernaldiana

Phenology Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Igneous rock outcrops, talus, rocky slopes in sagebrush areas
Elevation 2200-3400 m (7200-11200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
NV
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies fernaldiana is known from Elko, Humboldt, Lander, and Nye counties.

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

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Taxa treated here as subspecies of Boechera fernaldiana share many morphological traits, and most recent authors (R. C. Rollins 1993; N. H. Holmgren 2005b) did not recognize them as distinct. They are consistently separated by the characters listed below, show some degree of molecular divergence (C. D. Bailey et al., unpubl.), and their ranges are separated by ca. 500 km. They clearly represent genetically isolated population systems that warrant taxonomic recognition.

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

Key
1. Petals purple to lavender; sepals purplish, moderately to sparsely pubescent; Nevada.
subsp. fernaldiana
1. Petals white; sepals greenish, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent; Colorado, Utah.
subsp. vivariensis
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 379. FNA vol. 7, p. 378.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera > Boechera fernaldiana Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera
Sibling taxa
B. fernaldiana subsp. vivariensis
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. 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
Subordinate taxa
B. fernaldiana subsp. fernaldiana, B. fernaldiana subsp. vivariensis
Synonyms Arabis fernaldiana, Arabis canescens var. stylosa, Arabis fernaldiana var. stylosa
Name authority unknown (Rollins) W. A. Weber: Phytologia 51: 370. (1982)
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