Boechera lemmonii

Lemmon's rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Lemmon's rockcress is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Warner Mountains, and eastern Sierra Nevada in alpine and subalpine cliffs, talus slopes, and gravelly habitats at elevations of 2,000 to 4,350 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces delicate purple to lavender flowers 3.5 to 6 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 5 to 25 centimeters tall emerging from a woody caudex, it develops from basal rosettes with stems generally arising at ground surface. Its basal leaves are narrow, 1.5 to 5 millimeters wide, with short-stalked hairs having 3 to 9 rays, while cauline leaves range from 2 to 12 with minimal or absent basal lobes. The fruit develops as a spreading-ascending silique 1.6 to 4.4 centimeters long, containing 28 to 44 seeds in a single row.

Habitat: Cliffs, talus slopes, gravelly soil, in alpine, subalpine habitats

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 2000-4350 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, Wrn, SNE

California counties: Mariposa, El Dorado, Fresno, Plumas, Tuolumne, Mono, Alpine, Tulare, Madera, Inyo, Lassen, Modoc, Kern, San Bernardino, Shasta, Tehama, Placer, Sierra

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