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spoonleaf rockcress

Habit Perennials; short- to long-lived; sexual; caudex usually not woody (rarely with persistent, crowded leaf bases).
Stems

simple or few to several per caudex branch, arising from center of rosette near ground surface, 1.5–3.5(–5) dm, densely pubescent proximally, trichomes simple mixed with short-stalked ones, 2-rayed, 0.3–0.7 mm.

Basal leaves

blade narrowly oblanceolate, 1.5–3(–4) mm wide, margins entire, strongly ciliate at least along petiole, trichomes (simple), to 1 mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent, trichomes simple and short-stalked, 2-rayed, 0.3–0.7 mm.

Cauline leaves

5–15(–20), often concealing stem proximally;

blade auricles 0.5–1.5 mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves usually glabrous.

Racemes

10–30-flowered, usually unbranched.

Flowers

divaricate-ascending at anthesis;

sepals pubescent;

petals usually white, rarely pale lavender, 3–3.7(–4) × 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous;

pollen ellipsoid.

Fruiting pedicels

horizontal or slightly descending, curved or angled downward, 6–10(–15) mm, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent, trichomes spreading, simple.

Fruits

pendent, not appressed to rachis, rarely slightly secund, straight or gently curved, edges parallel, 3.3–5.7 cm × 1.2–1.8 mm;

valves glabrous;

ovules 90–126 per ovary;

style 0.1–0.4 mm.

Seeds

biseriate, 0.7–0.9 × 0.5–0.6 mm;

wing distal or, sometimes, absent, 0.05–0.1 mm wide.

2n

= 14.

Boechera spatifolia

Phenology Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Rocky slopes and gravelly soil in sagebrush, pinyon-juniper woodlands, open conifer forests and subalpine meadows
Elevation 1800-2800 m (5900-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; NM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Boechera spatifolia is a sexual diploid that usually has been treated as a variety of Arabis (Boechera) fendleri but appears to be sufficiently distinct to warrant recognition at species level (see M. D. Windham and I. A. Al-Shehbaz 2006 for detailed comparison). There is little geographic overlap between the two, with B. spatifolia confined to the mountains of central Colorado and north-central New Mexico and B. fendleri ranging from western New Mexico and the Four Corners region through northern Arizona to southern Nevada.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 408.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera
Sibling taxa
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. 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. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens, B. texana, B. tiehmii, B. tularensis, B. ultra-alsa, B. villosa, B. williamsii, B. xylopoda, B. yorkii
Synonyms Arabis spatifolia, Arabis fendleri var. spatifolia, B. fendleri subsp. spatifolia, B. fendleri var. spatifolia
Name authority (Rydberg) Windham & Al-Shehbaz: Harvard Pap. Bot. 11: 84. (2006)
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