Draba nemorosa (Yellow Whitlow-Grass) - photos and description
Early in May, plant flowering but stem leaves still unfurled.
Foliage has forked hairs.
Pods grow at 90 degrees to the stem
General: Small annual with an erect growth habit, with stems simple or branching, the stem from a rosette of leaves. Its foliage has forked hairs. Flowers very early in the year.
Flowers: Flowers yellow, small, racemose. We measured flowers to 2 mm long and 2 mm diameter.
Fruit: Pods are well spaced along the stem,
linear-oblong, flat in profile.
The key in Budd's Flora lists the pedicels 1.5 to 4 times
as long as the pod; we measured the pods 0.5 cm long and the pedicels
1.5 cm long.
Leaves: Basal leaves obovate 1 cm long, 6 mm wide with a few teeth. Cauline leaves alternate, also obovate, grow only on the lower stem.
Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 30 cm, we measured plants to 25 cm tall, most plants 5-8 .
Habitat: Dry soil on prairie and hillsides.
Abundance: Common.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Photos taken May 4th on sandy prairie, Douglas Provincial Park about 200 km northwest of Regina, SK, and May 7th in a grassy glade, in the Cypress Hills, 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.