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point rockcress, sharp-pod rock-cress

Habit Biennials or perennials; short-lived; apomictic; caudex present or absent.
Stems

usually 1 per caudex branch, arising from center of rosette near ground surface, 1.5–6 dm, densely pubescent proximally, trichomes sessile, 2–4-rayed, 0.15–0.4 mm, usually sparsely pubescent distally, rarely glabrous.

Basal leaves

blade oblanceolate, 1.5–6 mm wide, margins usually entire, rarely denticulate, ciliate proximally, trichomes (simple), to 0.5 mm, surfaces sparsely to moderately pubescent, trichomes sessile, 3–5 (or 6)-rayed, 0.15–0.35 mm.

Cauline leaves

2–20(–38), often concealing stem proximally;

blade auricles 0.3–2 mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves sparsely pubescent or glabrous.

Racemes

5–20(–36)-flowered, usually unbranched.

Flowers

ascending at anthesis;

sepals pubescent;

petals white or lavender, 5–7 × 0.9–1.3 mm, glabrous;

pollen spheroid.

Fruiting pedicels

erect to ascending, usually straight, 3–10 mm, pubescent or glabrous, trichomes appressed, branched.

Fruits

ascending, not appressed to rachis, not secund, straight, edges parallel, 2.5–7.5 cm × 1.2–1.8 mm;

valves glabrous;

ovules 46–100 per ovary;

style 0.3–1 mm.

Seeds

uniseriate, 1.8–2.2 × 1–1.4 mm;

wing continuous, 0.1–0.4 mm wide.

Boechera acutina

Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Gravelly slopes in meadows, open forests
Elevation 1400-1900 m (4600-6200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Boechera acutina is an apomictic hybrid that clearly contains a genome derived from B. stricta; the other parent remains uncertain. Plants of B. acutina are superficially similar to B. pratincola and are often misidentified as Arabis (Boechera) divaricarpa; the species is easily distinguished from both of those (see M. D. Windham and I. A. Al-Shehbaz 2007b for detailed comparison).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 365.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Boechereae > Boechera
Sibling taxa
B. arcuata, B. atrorubens, B. bodiensis, B. breweri, B. burkii, B. calderi, B. californica, B. canadensis, B. cascadensis, B. cobrensis, B. collinsii, B. consanguinea, B. constancei, B. covillei, B. crandallii, B. cusickii, B. davidsonii, B. dentata, B. depauperata, B. dispar, B. divaricarpa, B. drepanoloba, B. duchesnensis, B. elkoensis, B. evadens, B. falcatoria, B. falcifructa, B. fecunda, B. fendleri, B. fernaldiana, B. formosa, B. fructicosa, B. glareosa, B. glaucovalvula, B. goodrichii, B. gracilenta, B. gracilipes, B. grahamii, B. gunnisoniana, B. harrisonii, B. hastatula, B. hoffmannii, B. holboellii, B. horizontalis, B. howellii, B. inyoensis, B. johnstonii, B. koehleri, B. laevigata, B. languida, B. lasiocarpa, B. lemmonii, B. lignifera, B. lincolnensis, B. lyallii, B. macounii, B. microphylla, B. missouriensis, B. nevadensis, B. ophira, B. oxylobula, B. paddoensis, B. pallidifolia, B. parishii, B. pauciflora, B. paupercula, B. peirsonii, B. pendulina, B. pendulocarpa, B. perennans, B. perstellata, B. pinetorum, B. pinzliae, B. platysperma, B. polyantha, B. porphyrea, B. pratincola, B. puberula, B. pulchra, B. pusilla, B. pygmaea, B. quebecensis, B. rectissima, B. repanda, B. retrofracta, B. rigidissima, B. rollei, B. rollinsiorum, B. rubicundula, B. saximontana, B. schistacea, B. serotina, B. serpenticola, B. shevockii, B. shockleyi, B. sparsiflora, B. spatifolia, B. stricta, B. subpinnatifida, B. suffrutescens, B. texana, B. tiehmii, B. tularensis, B. ultra-alsa, B. villosa, B. williamsii, B. xylopoda, B. yorkii
Synonyms Arabis acutina, Arabis divaricarpa var. interposita, Arabis drummondii var. interposita, Arabis interposita
Name authority (Greene) Windham & Al-Shehbaz: Harvard Pap. Bot. 12: 236. (2007)
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