[Rockcresses: The Genera Arabis, Boechera and Turritis in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]
Cascade Rockcress, Columbia Gorge Rockcress, Fork-haired Rockcress
Arabis furcata
Synonym: Arabis furcata var. furcata
What may be Cascade rockcress as seen in Starvation Creek State Park, Columbia River Gorge..........April 26, 2015. Plants here ranch from 15-35 cm high, and many live on steep, moss-covered gravel or talus slopes under open forest canopy.
Characteristics:
Cascade rockcress is a pretty, tufted wildflower with one to
several erect stems from 5-35 cm tall arising from a rosette of basal leaves.
The herbage is mostly smooth, with straight hairs occasionally found near the
base. The basal leaves are from 2-5 cm long and up to 2 cm wide with oblanceolate
to obovate blades. The margins are entire or sometimes with shallow teeth. The
basal leaves may have some simple or branched hairs on the surface. The 2-5
stem leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, sessile, and the uppermost often auriculate-clasping.
The racemes are 5-30 flowered with white flowers. The sepals
are from 2.5-3.5 mm long and the petals from 6-9 mm long. The seed capsules
are erect siliques from 2.5-4 cm long and 1.5-2 mm wide (See photo below.).
Habitat:
Cascade rockcress is a wildflower of upper elevations of the
Cascades, including alpine ridges and subalpine meadows.
Range:
Cascade rockcress is found in the Cascade Mts. from Chelan
County, WA south to central Oregon, and in the Olympic Mts.
In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found at low elevation
(100'-4800') between Shellrock Mt and Viento State Park.
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Cascade rockcress as seen in Starvation Creek State Park, Columbia River Gorge..........April 26, 2015. Associated species seen in these photos include Hylocomium splendens, Leucolepis acanthoneuron, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Selaginella douglasii, Berberis nervosa, Delphinium nuttallianum, Heuchera micrantha var. micrantha, Polypodium glycyrrhiza, Rubus ursinus, and Nemophila parviflora var. parviflora.
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Cascade rockcress as seen in Starvation Creek State Park, Columbia River Gorge..........May 7, 2015.
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Photos of Cascade rock cress from Mt. Adams.
Note the narrow stem leaves.
Paul Slichter