Draba glomerata Royle

Accounts of Draba dasyastra in FRPS (p. 161-163), Fl. Qinghai. (1: 443-444. 1987), and Fl. Xizang. (2: 352-353. 1985) are based partly on misidentified plants of D. glomerata and partly on D. winterbottomii.

Perennial caespitose herb; shoots up to 8 cm long, 1-4-leaved, erect, densely covered with soft, short, whitish, branched hairs. Radical leaves densely rosulate, narrowly oblong or linear, 5-15 mm long, 1-2.5 mm broad, entire, tomentose, apex rounded or obtuse; cauline leaves oblong-ovate, sessile, 0-1-dentate. Racemes 10-15-flowered, corymbose, hardly increasing in length in fruit. Flowers c. 3 mm across, white; pedicel 2-4 mm long in fruit, tomentose. Sepals c. 1.5 mm long. Petals 2 mm long, 1 mm broad. Stamens c. 1 :1.5 mm long. Siliculae oblong-ovate, flattened, often contorted or twisted, 3.5-5 mm long, c. 1.5 mm broad, sub-glabrous or sparsely pubescent with minute branched hairs; style c. 0.5 mm long with minute depressed stigma; septum not veined; seeds 3-6 in each locule, c. 0.7 mm long, ovate-oblong brown.

Herbs perennial, (1-)2-8(-10) cm tall, densely cespitose, often scapose. Caudex slender, often many branched, ultimate branches terminated in rosettes, covered with leaf remains of previous years. Stems erect, simple, tomentose with subsessile stellate trichomes. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole absent, rarely to 4 mm, rarely ciliate; leaf blade obovate, oblong, or lanceolate, 2-8 × (0.7-)1-2 mm, densely tomentose with sessile or subsessile, very fine, 4-rayed stellate trichomes the rays of which with 1 or 2 lateral branches on each side, base attenuate to cuneate, margin entire, not ciliate, apex obtuse. Cauline leaves (0 or)1-3(-5), sessile; leaf blade ovate, oblong, or elliptic, 2-5 × 0.5-2 mm, pubescent as basal leaves, base cuneate to obtuse, margin entire or rarely with 1 or 2 minute teeth on each side, not ciliate, apex subobtuse. Racemes 3-10-flowered, ebracteate or rarely lowermost flower bracteate, basally slightly elongated, remainder often subumbellate in fruit; rachis straight. Fruiting pedicels 1-3(-4) mm, ascending, straight, tomentose all around with subsessile, stellate trichomes. Sepals oblong, 1-2 × 0.6-0.8 mm, erect, abaxially sparsely tomentose, base of lateral pair not saccate, margin narrowly membranous. Petals white, spatulate, 1.8-2.5(-3) × 0.8-1.2 mm, apex subemarginate. Filaments 1-1.5 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 0.2 mm. Ovules (6-)8-12 per ovary. Fruit ovate, rarely oblong-ovate, (2.5-)3-4(-5) × 1.5-2.5 mm, not inflated, latiseptate, not twisted; valves glabrous or rarely puberulent, obscurely veined, base obtuse, apex acute; style obsolete or 0.1-0.2(-0.4) mm. Seeds brown, ovate, 0.7-1 × 0.5-0.7 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.

C. Asia, Himalaya (Kashmir, Nepal), W. Tibet.

Distribution: Pakistan, Kashmir, N.W. Himalaya and W. Tibet.

Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan].

5700 m

Fl. Per.: June-Aug.

Grassy areas, sandy river banks, gravelly slopes; 2900-5500 m.

Draba glomerata var. dasycarpa O. E. Schulz.