Boechera inyoensis

Inyo rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Inyo rockcress is a California native perennial found in eastern Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada east of the Sierra, and desert mountains in limestone, volcanic outcrops, and clay soils of desert scrub and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 1,200 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces lavender to purple flowers with petals 5 to 8 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 25 to 65 centimeters tall, it emerges from a basal rosette with short-stalked, multi-rayed hairs. Its basal leaves are entire and narrow, 1 to 4 millimeters wide, with short-stalked, 3 to 10-rayed hairs covering the surface. The fruit is a distinctive spreading to widely pendent silique 3.7 to 6.5 centimeters long, containing 74 to 134 seeds arranged in two rows.

Habitat: Limestone, volcanic outcrops, clay soils, in desert scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 1200-4000 m

Bioregions: e SNH, SNE, DMtns

California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Inyo, Madera, Fresno, Tuolumne, Tulare, Mono, Sierra, Plumas, Alpine

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