E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Draba praealta Greene
tall draba (tall whitlow-grass)
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Jamie Fenneman  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #25566)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Draba praealta
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Species Information

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General:
Biennial or short-lived perennial or occasionally annual herb from a slender taproot; stems simple or branched, 10-30 cm tall, hairy with simple, branched, or starlike hairs.
Leaves:
Mostly basal, in a rosette, oblanceolate, 5-30 mm long, 2-6 mm wide; stem leaves 1-6, lanceolate to egg-shaped, 0.5-3 cm long, 2-14 mm wide, entire to few toothed, hairy with 4- to 7-rayed hairs, usually mixed with branched or simple hairs.
Flowers:
Racemes 5- to 30-flowered, elongate in fruit; flower stalks 3-10 mm long, ascending, with starlike or branched hairs; petals white, sometimes creamy yellow, 2-3.5 mm long; sepals 1.5-2 mm long, soft-hairy.
Fruits:
Silicles, 7-14 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, narrowly-lanceolate, plane, soft-hairy with simple and branched hairs; styles 0.1-0.2 mm long; seeds 20-70, about 0.8 mm long.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Moist to mesic forests, meadows and rocky slopes in the montane and subalpine zones; infrequent in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare northward; N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to WY, NV and OR.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Draba praealta

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 800 1651 2133
Slope Gradient (%) 0 36 75
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
80 187 225
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
1 2 4
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
C
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
8
Modal BEC Zone Class
AT
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: AT(2), BAFA(1), BG(1), ESSF(1), MS(1)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Draba cascadensis Payson & H. St. John

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References