Boechera stricta (Drummond's Rock Cress) - photos and description

 

 

 


Pods 2 mm wide.

 


Stem leaf in above photo.


Stem leaf (underside) in above photo.


Basal leaves in above photo. 

General: Slender biennial with smooth stems.

Flowers: Grow in racemes, purple-white in colour. We measured a flower at 7 mm long.

Fruit: Erect, glabrous, crowded, flat in profile, we measured a pod at 61 mm long by 2 mm wide.

Leaves: Stem leaves are alternate, appressed to the stem, lanceolate, we measured a leaf at 3 cm long by 7 mm wide. Stem leaves glabrous. Basal leaves petiolate, oblanceolate, we measured a basal leaf at 27 mm long by 4 mm wide. Basal leaf blades and petioles are lightly ciliate, otherwise hairless.

Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 60 cm, we measured plants to 61 cm tall.

Habitat: Grassland and dry hillsides.

Abundance: Ranked as common, an S5, by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. Uncommon in our experience.

Origin: Native.

Synonym: Listed in many of the field guides we use as Arabis drummondii.

How to identify this Rock Cress: Pods erect, 2-3 mm wide, flat (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants).

When and where photographed: The above photos were taken June 3rd, grassland, Cypress Hills, about 425 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.