Draba aureola

Golden alpine draba, Golden Alpine Draba

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Golden alpine draba is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native perennial found in the Lassen Volcanic National Park and eastern Klamath Ranges in high-elevation alpine meadows, scree, and open conifer forests at elevations of 2,250 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in dense clusters with 12 to 83 small blossoms, each petal 4 to 6 millimeters long. Growing with short stems 2.5 to 15 centimeters tall, it forms compact clumps with stiff, branching stems covered in distinctive multi-rayed hairs. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate to linear, 1 to 1.5 centimeters long, with ciliate edges and complex star-shaped hairs on both leaf surfaces. The fruit is an oblong silique 6 to 16 millimeters long, bearing 10 to 20 small seeds.

Habitat: Scree, talus, generally volcanic substrates, alpine meadows, open conifer forest

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 2250-3200 m

Bioregions: CaRH (Lassen Volcanic National Park), e KR (Mount Eddy)

California counties: Shasta, Lassen, Siskiyou, Plumas, Trinity

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