Crucif2.html

Mountain Wildflowers

Mustard Family: Brassicaceae (page 2 of 3)

Home | Next | Previous | Index

The Hoary Rockcress, Arabis puberula: is a colorful little plant belonging to a genus that includes many species in the northwest. The species name "puberula" means "covered with hair" for the plant's furry leaves. Cultivated rockcresses are used as early blooming rock garden ornamentals—traits that also describe this attractive plant for it blooms early in the spring in rocky places at lower elevations in our mountains. Why rockcresses were named after Arabia is unknown.

The Littleleaf Rockcress, Arabis microphylla var. saximontana, is a tiny (about 1/4" in diameter) sub-alpine to alpine rockcress that blooms immediately after the surrounding snow melts. Chances are that any small-flowered pink-to-purple spring-blooming four-petaled flower that one sees in our mountains is an Arabis. This one's species name, "microphylla" means "small leaved" and its varietal name "saximontana" means "Rocky Mountain."

Cusick's Rockcress, Arabis cusickii, is an early spring-blooming rockcress that grows typically on sagebrush slopes at lower altitudes in our mountains. The plant's many thin leaves are noticeably hairy, giving them a silvery-gray appearance. The flowers range from the light pink of the plant shown here to nearly white. William Conklin Cusick (1842-1942) was an Oregon school-teacher, rancher, and botanist who collected, and described many new species that he found growing in the mountains of Oregon

Lemmon's Rockcress, Arabis lemmonii, is a low, small, purple-flowered, sub-alpine to alpine plant found on bare, windswept talus and gravel slopes high in the mountains of the Northwest (the plant shown here was photographed on the divide between the White Cloud and Pioneer ranges in Central Idaho). John Gill Lemmon (1832-1908) for whom this species was named, fought in the Civil War and survived imprisonment in Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison. Scarred by his experience, he moved to California in his mid-thirties and apparently found peace as a botanist and plant collector. His name is attached to other western plants as well .

Home | Next | Previous | Index

	The *Hoary Rockcress, Arabis puberula:* is a colorful little plant belonging to a genus that includes many species in the northwest. The species name "puberula" means "covered with hair" for the plant's furry leaves. Cultivated rockcresses are used as early blooming rock garden ornamentals—traits that also describe this attractive plant for it blooms early in the spring in rocky places at lower elevations in our mountains. Why rockcresses were named after Arabia is unknown.
	The Littleleaf Rockcress, Arabis microphylla var. *saximontana, is a tiny (about 1/4" in diameter) sub-alpine to alpine rockcress that blooms immediately after the surrounding snow melts. Chances are that any small-flowered pink-to-purple spring-blooming four-petaled flower that one sees in our mountains is an Arabis. This one's species name, "microphylla" means "small leaved" and its varietal name "saximontana*" means "Rocky Mountain."
	Cusick's Rockcress, Arabis cusickii, is an early spring-blooming rockcress that grows typically on sagebrush slopes at lower altitudes in our mountains. The plant's many thin leaves are noticeably hairy, giving them a silvery-gray appearance. The flowers range from the light pink of the plant shown here to nearly white. William Conklin Cusick (1842-1942) was an Oregon school-teacher, rancher, and botanist who collected, and described many new species that he found growing in the mountains of Oregon
	Lemmon's Rockcress, Arabis lemmonii, is a low, small, purple-flowered, sub-alpine to alpine plant found on bare, windswept talus and gravel slopes high in the mountains of the Northwest (the plant shown here was photographed on the divide between the White Cloud and Pioneer ranges in Central Idaho). John Gill Lemmon (1832-1908) for whom this species was named, fought in the Civil War and survived imprisonment in Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison. Scarred by his experience, he moved to California in his mid-thirties and apparently found peace as a botanist and plant collector. His name is attached to other western plants as well .