Hi, I found these flowers in Kalamalka Provincial Park near Vernon, B. C. in open, rocky areas on June 11, 2006: Flower #1: Flower #2: These may be the leaves of flower #2: Can these plants be identified?
Don't recognize the first, but #2 & #3 are Arabis. Arabis holboellii, probably var retrofracta but BC eflora also list varieties consanguinea and secunda that I'm not familiar with, so you might compare the three. One of the real experts here might be able to discern the variety from your photo, or perhaps the location. It's not pinetorum or collinsii at least to my notion. Sorry for the double reply, couln't find the first one amongst all the open pages on desktop. :) Harry
David's suggestion is very interesting. I had not thought about that plant being a member of Santalaceae and I cannot find any images of Comandra umbellata on the web that look very similar to the plant that I found. But nevertheless Comandra umbellata may be right. Arabis holboellii may also be right, but I am not sure whether the stem leaves are sufficiently clasping (see image below) even though some of them look lieke they are clasping whereas some are clearly not. I also have considerable doubt whether the plant was glabrous in its upper parts (which A. holboellii should be; see picture below). Could you check whether the enlarged pictures make a difference for assignment to a species? Thank you very much! Robert.
I like the Comandra umbellata suggestion, and would go so far as to suggest var. pallida based on the shape of the leaf apex. Re: Arabis. The preface for the description of the genus in the Ill'd Flora of BC starts out with "This is a very difficult genus. Mature silicles and seeds are often necessary for identification." A 1995 key by Mulligan uses equipment to measure hairs on leaves and stems - with accuracy of less than 1/10 mm long required! If it is Arabis holboellii, I think var. retrofracta is a good possibility. The leaf margins do seem to be rolled, eliminating var. secunda, and the basal leaves do look densely grey-hairy.
Hi R.F.-Faust After reading the above I found in "Flora of Pacific Northwest". Arabis holboellii var pendulocarpa. The only thing that distinguishes it from the rest of the genus is its lack of clasping leaves. The leaves you show however fit the +- clasping leaves description of A.holboellii var retrofracta in the same book. Also Daniel Mosquin seems to have doubts as to the species and so I might be mistaken to begin with. Harry
Hi Harry, I also thought about Arabis exilis (which is what "A. holboellii var. pendulocarpa" is called in the "Illustrated Flora of British Columbia") but some of the stem leaves look like they are clasping the stem. It is difficult for me to see whether the basal leaves are in fact densely hairy as David suggested or whether the whitish color has some other reason (e. g. fungal infection). I added two more images of the basal leaves. Thank you and also thanks to Daniel Mosquin for the suggestions! Robert.
So I'll stick with Arabis holboellii (with a little question mark), probably var. retrofracta, and with Comandra umbellata var. pallida. The midnerves of the leaves are quite easily recognizable in some cases which should be only the case in var. pallida. Thanks a lot, Robert.
