Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Canescent Draba
Draba cana
Mustard family (Brassicaceae)

Draba (Draba cana) grows from four to ten inches tall from a loose mat of leaves and few to many stems. Petals are just two or three millimeters long and seed pods () are vertical, hairy, and up to nine millimeters long. D. cana, was found by J. Macoun in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta in 1887 and was named by Rydberg in 1902. There has been, and continues to be, disagreement about the name of this plant. Disagreements also arise over the plant's characteristics: it is variously described as up to 9, 25, and 35 tall; growing in clumps, growing in open clumps, and not growing in clumps. The same wide variety of detail is found in the number of stem leaves, length of the seed pod, etc. The species is also found in the upper mid-west and east, where, in Maine, it is considered rare and endangered.


©2012 Denali National Park And Preserve, Jacob W.
Frank

Description

, loosely plant with stems to 14" tall, hairy throughout. to 1 1/2" long, , . several, commonly . Flower clusters with several to many flowers. sparsely hairy. Petals to 1/6" long, white to yellow-white. to 1/2" long and 1/10" wide, hairy, rarely .

Field Marks

Tall, clump-forming mustard with abundance of yellow-white flowers.

© Al Schneider

An entire leaf has smooth edges. Not toothed or lobed.

oblanceolate -- top wider than bottom

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

cauline leaves -- leaves growing on a stem and especially on the upper part.

A silique is a long, thin seed capsule with the length more than 3 times the width.

caespitose -- Grass (or plants) growing in small dense clumps or tufts.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

canescent -- a white coating often due to fine grayish-white hairs.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

alpine -- above the tree line. Thin soil, rocks, short growing season, frost, winter snow.