Draba monoensis

White mountains draba, White Mountains Draba

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

White mountains draba is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in northern White Mountains of Mono County in moist gravel and rock crevices at elevations of 3,600 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces delicate white flowers less than 2 millimeters long with petals approximately 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters wide. Growing with extremely short stems only 1 to 4 centimeters tall, it forms compact cushion-like clusters with wavy-haired leaves. Its narrow oblanceolate leaves measure 5 to 16 millimeters long, covered with simple and two-rayed hairs and sometimes minutely toothed near the tip. The tiny fruit is ovoid to elliptical, measuring 3 to 5 millimeters long and slightly inflated at the base.

Habitat: Moist gravel, rock crevices

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 3600-4000 m

Bioregions: n W&ampI (White Mtns, Mono Co.).

California counties: Tulare, Mono

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