False Candytuft (Smelowskia borealis)
Description
Plants sometimes canescent basally; caudex usually simple, rarely branched. Stems: several from base, often unbranched or branched proximally, 0.6-3(-3.5) dm, trichomes simple, to 1 mm, mixed with smaller, dendritic ones. Basal leaves: petiole 0.5-3.2 cm, ciliate or not; blade obovate to ovate in outline, (terminal segments linear, oblong, or ovate), 0.7-2.5 cm - 4-14 mm, (terminal segments 0.2-1.1 cm - 1-5 mm), margins palmately (3 or) 5 (or 7)-lobed, (surfaces densely pubescent, trichomes dendritic, often mixed with larger, simple ones, to 1 mm), apex obtuse or subacute. Cauline leaves shortly petiolate or sessile; blade often similar to basal, smaller distally, margins sometimes pinnatifid. Racemes considerably elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels spreading to divaricate-ascending, (secund, often curved), proximalmost bracteate, 6-15(-20) mm, pubescent, trichomes simple mixed with smaller, dendritic ones. Flowers: sepals (usually persistent), 2.5-3.2 mm; petals purple to lavender, suborbicular to obovate, 4-5 - 1.5-2 mm, narrowed to claw, 1.5-2.5 mm, apex rounded; anthers oblong, 0.4-0.5 mm. Fruits spreading to ascending, usually oblanceolate to spatulate or linear-oblanceolate, rarely oblong-obovate, angustiseptate, (8-)12-28 - 4-8 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse; valves each with prominent midvein and distinct lateral veins, (rarely sparsely pubescent); ovules 10-18 per ovary; style 0.1-1.1 mm. Seeds 1.5-2.2 - 1-1.3 mm. 2n = 12.Flowering Jun-Aug. Loose talus, metamorphic slide rock, rocky slopes, scree, shale splinters, limestone rubble, alpine ridges, barren rocks, unstable talus in alpine glacial bowl; 600-1700 m; N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Brassicales
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Family: Brassicaceae
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Genus: Smelowskia
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