Draba cana

Canescent draba

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Canescent draba is a rare California native perennial ranked 2B.3 by CNPS, found in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains (eastern slope, Inyo County) in subalpine to alpine meadows, tundra, and rock crevices at elevations up to 4,100 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers 3 to 5 millimeters long with delicate petals. Growing with branched stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, covered in distinctive four- to ten-rayed hairs, it forms clusters from a woody caudex. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate to linear, 8 to 20 millimeters long, with short-stalked hairs and occasionally toothed edges. The fruit is a flattened, lance-shaped pod 4 to 12 millimeters long, often slightly twisted and bearing multi-rayed hairs.

Habitat: Subalpine to alpine meadows, tundra, rock crevices, outcrops

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 4100 m

Bioregions: s SNH (e slope, Inyo Co.)

California counties: Mono, Mariposa

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