Boechera dispar

Pinyon rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Pinyon rockcress is a rare (CNPS 2B.3) California native perennial found in the Southern Mojave Mountains, Southeastern Sierra Nevada, and Desert Mountains in rocky desert scrub and pinyon-juniper woodlands at elevations of 1,200 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces delicate purple to lavender flowers 5 to 6 millimeters long with slender petals. Growing with slender stems 30 to 90 centimeters tall, emerging from a slightly woody caudex near ground surface and covered with short branched hairs. Its basal leaves are 2 to 5 millimeters wide, entire and sparsely hairy, with cauline leaves sparse and becoming more hairy toward the stem tips. The fruit develops as a spreading-ascending silique 4 to 7.3 centimeters long, containing 44 to 52 seeds arranged in a single row.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, gravelly soil, in desert scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 1200-2500 m

Bioregions: SnBr, SNE, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Tulare, Inyo, Riverside

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.