Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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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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