Draba lemmonii

Perennials; (cespitose, not pulvinate); caudex branched (covered with persistent petiole remains, branches sometimes terminating in sterile rosettes); scapose. Stems unbranched, 0.3–1 (–1.5) dm, hirsute throughout, trichomes simple, 0.2–0.7 mm, with short-stalked, 2-rayed ones, (smaller). Basal leaves rosulate; shortly petiolate; petiole base and margin ciliate, (trichomes simple, 0.5–1 mm, midvein obscure); blade (somewhat fleshy), oblanceolate to obovate, 0.4–1 (–1.8) cm × 1.5–4 (–6) mm, margins entire, surfaces hirsute, abaxially mostly with stalked, 2-rayed trichomes, 0.1–0.8 mm, rarely with fewer, simple ones, adaxially with mostly simple ones, 0.5–1 mm. Cauline leaves 0. Racemes 4–15 (–21) -flowered, ebracteate, elongated in fruit; rachis not flexuous, hirsute as stem. Fruiting pedicels horizontal to divaricate-ascending (often somewhat decurrent basally), straight or curved upward, 4–10 (–14) mm, hirsute as stem. Flowers: sepals ovate, 2–2.7 mm, pubescent, (trichomes simple, short-stalked, 2-rayed); petals yellow, spatulate, 4–6 × 1.5–2.5 mm; anthers oblong, 0.4–0.6 mm. Fruits ovate to ovatelanceolate, slightly twisted, flattened, 4–9 × 3.5–5 mm; valves pubescent, trichomes usually simple, 0.1–0.45 mm, rarely with fewer, short-stalked, 2-rayed ones; ovules 10–14 (–16) per ovary; style 0.1–0.6 (–0.8) mm. Seeds ovoid, 1–1.4 × 0.6–1 mm. 2n = 50.

Phenology: Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat: Granitic rock outcrops, boulder slopes, alpine fellfields
Elevation: 3000-4000 m

Calif.

Discussion

Draba lemmonii was so broadly circumscribed by C. L. Hitchcock (1941) and R. C. Rollins (1993) that it included plants here assigned to three different species. For a list of features distinguishing D. lemmonii from the recently-segregated D. longisquamosa and D. cyclomorpha, see I. A. Al-Shehbaz and M. D. Windham (2007). Draba lemmonii is apparently restricted to alpine areas of the Sierra Nevada in Fresno, Inyo, Madera, Mono, and Tuolumne counties.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa