Boechera howellii

Howell's rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Howell's rockcress is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada and high Cascade Range mountains on rock outcrops, talus slopes, and gravelly soil at elevations of 1,800 to 3,800 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to pale purple flowers 4 to 8 millimeters long with delicate petals. Growing with slender stems 6 to 20 centimeters tall rising from a slightly woody caudex, it emerges from a basal rosette near ground level. Its basal leaves are narrow, 1 to 7 millimeters wide, with simple margin hairs and entirely glabrous leaf surfaces. The fruit is an ascending silique 2.5 to 6.5 centimeters long with slightly wavy edges, containing 10 to 20 seeds arranged in a single row.

Habitat: Uncommon. Rock outcrops, talus slopes, gravelly soil, in alpine, subalpine habitats

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1800-3800 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH

California counties: Mono, Tulare, Fresno, Mariposa, El Dorado, Nevada, Madera, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Inyo, Trinity, Placer, Alpine, Amador, Plumas, Shasta, Tehama

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