Turritis glabra

Tower rockcress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tower rockcress is a California native perennial found in the Central Western and North Coast Ranges in open fields, meadows, and slopes at elevations up to 2,800 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces cream, and occasionally lilac or purple flowers, 5 to 8.5 millimeters long with narrow, spoon-shaped petals. Growing with slender stems 3 to 4.5 meters tall, occasionally branching near the top, it develops a distinctive upright form. Its basal leaves are 4 to 12 centimeters long, oblanceolate to spoon-shaped, while cauline leaves are smaller and lanceolate to elliptic. The plant produces long, narrow fruits 4 to 10 centimeters in length, standing erect and tightly appressed to the stem.

Habitat: Open fields, meadows, slopes

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 2800 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange, Tulare, Butte, Kern, Nevada, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Siskiyou, Monterey, Sonoma, Plumas, Marin, Fresno, Ventura, Mendocino, Riverside, San Mateo, Trinity, San Benito, Mariposa, Del Norte, Calaveras, Modoc, Amador, Shasta, Contra Costa, Lake, Santa Clara, Glenn, Tuolumne, Sierra, Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Placer, Alameda, Tehama, Napa

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