Duration: Annual. Nativity: Native. Lifeform: Forb/Herb. General: Annual herb, 1-25 cm tall, from a slender taproot; stems simple or branched at the base, pubescent at least near the base with simple and/or forked hairs. Leaves: Crowded at or near the base; basal leaves orbicular to ovate or obovate, 0.5-5 cm long, 2-27 mm wide, entire or often with a few teeth near the tips, pubescent with 2-4 forked hairs and sometimes simple ones as well; stem leaves few to several, similar to the basal leaves but usually much reduced. Flowers: White and inconspicuous, in terminal racemes on long stalks, the racemes crowded in flower but elongating in fruit; pedicels spreading to ascending, 1-10 mm long, with branched hairs; sepals 4, pubescent, 2 mm long; petals 4 in a cross formation, white, 3-5 mm long. Fruits: Capsules oblong to linear, strongly laterally compressed, 4-15 mm long and 2-4 mm wide, hairy or glabrous; seeds less than 1 mm long, 20 or more per capsule. Ecology: Found in sandy soil or rocky slopes, from 1,000-7,000 ft (305-2135 m); flowers February-May. Distribution: Much of the s half of the US, from CA east to PA; south to c MEX. Notes: Distinguished by being a diminutive annual covered in stellate (branched) hairs (use your hand lens), with leaves in a basal rosette; several nearly leafless flower stalks, usually only a few inches long, rising out of the cluster of leaves; clusters of small, 4-petaled white flowers at the tops of the flowering stalks with fruits spreading off below; fruits are usually hairy, plump and slightly elongated, flattened and curved upwards. Etymology: Draba is from the Greek drabe for sharp or acrid, probably referring to the taste of the leaves; cuneifolia means leaves tapered at the base.

Santa Catalina Mountains.
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
Location: Edge of Cholla Wash 30 feet north of Bear Canyon Trail.
2/6/19

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