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Rocky Mountain Draba

Habit Perennials; (cespitose); caudex simple or branched (with persistent leaf bases); not scapose.
Stems

unbranched, 0.1–0.5(–0.8) dm, usually pubescent throughout, rarely glabrous, trichomes simple or subsessile, 2-rayed or spurred, (crisped), 0.1–0.5 mm.

Basal leaves

rosulate; petiolate;

petiole ciliate, (trichomes usually straight and simple, rarely also 2-rayed, 0.2–0.6(–0.8) mm);

blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, (0.5–)1–4 cm × 0.3–2(–3) mm, margins entire (pubescent as petiole), surfaces glabrous.

Cauline leaves

(1–)3–9(–12) (as bracts);

sessile;

blade linear to oblanceolate or lanceolate, margins entire, (ciliate proximally, similar to basal).

Racemes

3–15-flowered, bracteate, elongated in fruit;

rachis not flexuous, usually pubescent as stem, rarely glabrous.

Flowers

sepals ovate, 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous or pubescent, (trichomes simple and short-stalked, 2-rayed);

petals yellow, spatulate to obovate, 3–5 × 1.5–3 mm;

anthers ovate, 0.3–0.5 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

divaricate-ascending, usually straight, rarely curved upward, 3–10(–15) mm, usually pubescent as stem, rarely glabrous.

Fruits

ovate-elliptic to lanceolate, slightly twisted or plane, flattened, 5–11 × 2.5–5 mm;

valves glabrous;

ovules 8–16 per ovary;

style 0.2–0.7 mm.

Seeds

ovoid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.7–1 mm.

2n

= 18.

Draba graminea

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Rocky areas and ridges, alpine tundra, gravel bars in streams
Elevation 3000-4100 m (9800-13500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Draba graminea is occasionally confused with D. crassa, which occupies similar habitats and elevations. It is easily distinguished from the latter by having narrower [0.3–2(–3) versus 2.5–8(–10) mm wide] basal leaves and bracteate (versus ebracteate) racemes. It is known to us only from Hinsdale, La Plata, Ouray, San Juan, and San Miguel counties.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 309.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Arabideae > Draba
Sibling taxa
D. abajoensis, D. albertina, D. aleutica, D. alpina, D. aprica, D. arabisans, D. arctica, D. arctogena, D. argyrea, D. arida, D. asprella, D. asterophora, D. aurea, D. aureola, D. bifurcata, D. borealis, D. brachycarpa, D. brachystylis, D. breweri, D. burkei, D. californica, D. cana, D. carnosula, D. chamissonis, D. cinerea, D. corrugata, D. corymbosa, D. crassa, D. crassifolia, D. cruciata, D. cuneifolia, D. cusickii, D. cyclomorpha, D. daviesiae, D. densifolia, D. exunguiculata, D. fladnizensis, D. glabella, D. globosa, D. grandis, D. grayana, D. heilii, D. helleriana, D. hitchcockii, D. howellii, D. incana, D. incerta, D. incrassata, D. inexpectata, D. jaegeri, D. juvenilis, D. kassii, D. kluanei, D. lactea, D. lemmonii, D. lonchocarpa, D. longisquamosa, D. macounii, D. maguirei, D. malpighiacea, D. micropetala, D. mogollonica, D. monoensis, D. mulliganii, D. murrayi, D. nemorosa, D. nivalis, D. norvegica, D. novolympica, D. oblongata, D. ogilviensis, D. oligosperma, D. oreibata, D. oxycarpa, D. palanderiana, D. pauciflora, D. paucifructa, D. paysonii, D. pectinipila, D. pedicellata, D. pennellii, D. petrophila, D. pilosa, D. platycarpa, D. porsildii, D. praealta, D. pterosperma, D. ramosissima, D. ramulosa, D. rectifructa, D. reptans, D. ruaxes, D. santaquinensis, D. saxosa, D. scotteri, D. serpentina, D. sharsmithii, D. sibirica, D. sierrae, D. simmonsii, D. smithii, D. sobolifera, D. spectabilis, D. sphaerocarpa, D. sphaeroides, D. standleyi, D. stenoloba, D. stenopetala, D. streptobrachia, D. streptocarpa, D. subalpina, D. subcapitata, D. subumbellata, D. trichocarpa, D. ventosa, D. verna, D. viridis, D. weberi, D. yukonensis, D. zionensis
Synonyms Braya graminea, D. chrysantha var. graminea, D. chrysantha var. hirticaulis
Name authority Greene: Pl. Baker. 3: 5. (1901)
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