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Columbia cress, Columbia yellow-cress, Columbia yellowcress cress, Columbian yellowcress

round fruit yellow cress

Habit Perennials; (terrestrial or of wet habitat, not submerged, with creeping roots and adventitious stems); pilose or hirsute. Annuals or, rarely, biennials; (terrestrial or of wet habitat, not submerged); glabrous or hirsute.
Stems

suberect or decumbent to prostrate, branched distally, 1–3.2(–4.1) dm, (pilose to hirsute).

(simple or few- to many-branched from base), decumbent or erect, branched distally, 1–4(–5.5) dm, (hirsute proximally).

Basal leaves

absent.

rosulate;

blade margins pinnatifid.

Cauline leaves

shortly petiolate or sessile;

blade oblanceolate to oblong, (lateral lobes oblong to ovate, often reaching midrib), 2.4–5.2 cm × 5–12 mm, base auriculate or not, margins sinuate to pinnatifid or (lateral lobes) entire or dentate, (surfaces pilose).

shortly petiolate or sessile;

blade oblong to oblanceolate, (lateral lobes oblong to ovate), (3.5–)4.5–9(–12) cm × 10–25(–33) mm, (lateral lobes smaller than terminal), base auriculate or not, margins pinnatifid to pinnatisect, or (lateral lobes) crenate to subentire.

Racemes

elongated.

elongated.

Flowers

sepals (persistent), ascending, oblong, 2–3.5 × 0.8–1.5 mm, (pilose);

petals yellow, oblanceolate to spatulate, 2.7–4.2 × 0.7–1.7 mm;

median filaments 2–3.5 mm;

anthers ovate, ca. 0.8 mm.

sepals ascending, oblong to ovate, 0.7–1.3 × 0.4–0.7 mm;

petals yellow, oblanceolate to spatulate, 0.6–1.2 × 0.2–0.5 mm;

median filaments 0.9–1.2 mm;

anthers ovate, 0.2–0.3 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

ascending, (subappressed to rachis), straight, (3–)4–10(–12) mm, (densely pilose).

divaricate to slightly reflexed, straight or recurved, 1.5–3.7(–4.3) mm.

Fruits

silicles, straight, subglobose to oblong ellipsoid, (1.5–)2.5–5.5(–7) × (1–)1.7–2.8(–3.5) mm;

valves densely pilose;

ovules 24–40 per ovary;

style 0.7–3.2 mm, (pilose).

silicles, straight, globose or subglobose, 1.2–2.5(–3) mm diam.;

valves glabrous;

ovules 20–42 per ovary;

style 0.1–0.7(–1) mm.

Seeds

biseriate, yellowish brown, ovoid-globose, 0.7–0.9 mm, prominently colliculate.

biseriate, brown, cordiform, 0.5–0.7 mm, finely colliculate.

Rorippa columbiae

Rorippa sphaerocarpa

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Stream banks, ditches, margins of lakes and ponds, meadows, roadsides, gravel bars, wet fields Shores of ponds and lakes, mud flats, stream edges, moist grounds
Elevation 100-1600 m (300-5200 ft) 1200-3300 m (3900-10800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 499. FNA vol. 7, p. 504.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Rorippa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Rorippa
Sibling taxa
R. alpina, R. amphibia, R. aquatica, R. austriaca, R. barbareifolia, R. calycina, R. crystallina, R. curvipes, R. curvisiliqua, R. dubia, R. indica, R. microtitis, R. palustris, R. ramosa, R. sessiliflora, R. sinuata, R. sphaerocarpa, R. subumbellata, R. sylvestris, R. tenerrima, R. teres
R. alpina, R. amphibia, R. aquatica, R. austriaca, R. barbareifolia, R. calycina, R. columbiae, R. crystallina, R. curvipes, R. curvisiliqua, R. dubia, R. indica, R. microtitis, R. palustris, R. ramosa, R. sessiliflora, R. sinuata, R. subumbellata, R. sylvestris, R. tenerrima, R. teres
Synonyms Nasturtium sinuatum var. columbiae, Nasturtium columbiae, Nasturtium sinuatum var. pubescens, Radicula columbiae, R. calycina var. columbiae, R. sinuata var. pubescens Nasturtium sphaerocarpum, Cardamine globosa var. sphaerocarpa, Caroli-Gmelina sylvestris, Nasturtium obtusum var. sphaerocarpum, Radicula obtusa var. sphaerocarpa, Radicula sphaerocarpa, R. obtusa var. sphaerocarpa
Name authority (S. Watson) Howell: Fl. N.W. Amer., 40. (1897) (A. Gray) Britton: Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 5: 170. (1894)
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