Boechera parishii

Parish's rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Parish's rockcress is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the Transverse Ranges in gravelly hillsides within sagebrush-juniper-pine associations at elevations of 1,900 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces lavender to purple flowers 8 to 13 millimeters long with distinctive petal width of 2.5 to 4 millimeters. Growing with slender stems 3 to 14 centimeters tall, it emerges from a slightly woody caudex with stems bearing short-stalked, multi-rayed hairs. Its basal leaves are narrow, 0.5 to 2 millimeters wide, with complex multi-rayed hairs, while cauline leaves are sparse and minimally lobed. The fruit develops as an ascending silique 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters long, containing 12 to 20 seeds arranged in a single row.

Habitat: Gravelly hillsides in sagebrush-juniper-pine associations

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 1900-2800 m

Bioregions: SnBr.

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside

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