Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Drabastrum alpestre
Mountain cress
Brassicaceae
Rocky and sandy sites. Kosciuszko National Park, the mountains to the north, ACT, and the tablelands south of the ACT.
Herb or subshrub, to 0.4 m high, base and rhizome woody, plants grey with branched or stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Stems cylindrical or finely fluted. Basal leaves in a rosette, 1-5.3 cm long, entire, toothed, or lobed with 1-4 pairs of lobes. Stem leaves becoming smaller, alternating up the stems. Flowers with 4 petals each 3.5–6 mm long, white or lavender, often purplish on the back. Flowers spring–summer. Seed cases mostly 0.4–1 cm long (excluding the beak), 1-2 mm wide; beak 0.5–1 mm long; stalks 5–11 mm long.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Vulnerable Vic. Listed in the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Drabastrum~alpestre (accessed 12 January, 2021)
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