Draba lonchocarpa

Spear-fruited draba, Spear-Fruited Draba

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Spear-fruited draba is a rare California native (CNPS 2B.3) perennial herb found in central Sierra Nevada Mountains at Convict Creek Basin and northern White Mountains in calcareous scree at elevations of 2,800 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces small white flowers 2 to 3.5 millimeters long in compact clusters. Growing as a tufted herb with multiple stems 3 to 11 centimeters tall, it forms dense, low-growing clusters in alpine environments. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate to obovate, 3 to 15 millimeters long, with short-stalked hairs on the undersides and glabrous upper surfaces. The distinctive fruit is linear to narrowly lanceolate, 6 to 15 millimeters long, often slightly twisted and bearing simple or two-rayed hairs.

Habitat: Calcareous scree

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 2800-4000 m

Bioregions: c SNH (Convict Creek Basin, Mono Co.), n W&ampI (White Mtns)

California counties: Mono, Tulare, Inyo

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