Draba aurea Vahl ex Hornem.
golden draba (golden whitlow-grass)
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
golden draba (golden whitlow-grass)
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a taproot; stems simple or branched, erect or decumbent at base, 10-50 cm tall, hairs long and simple or often branched.
Leaves:
Basal leaves oblanceolate, 1-4 cm long, 2-13 mm wide, entire or denticulate; stem leaves mostly 10-20, egg-shaped to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 0.5-3 cm long, 0.3-1.2 cm wide, entire to toothed; densely hairy, lower leaf surfaces with predominently short-stalked or unstalked hairs, the hairs starlike mainly with 8 or fewer rays.
Flowers:
Racemes several- to many-flowered, occasionally with solitary flowers or lateral racemes in the axils of upper leaves; flower stalks 3-20 mm long, appressed to axis of the inflorescence, hairy; petals pale to deep yellow, rounded, 4.5-6 mm long; sepals 2-3.5 mm long, soft-hairy.
Fruits:
Silicles, 7-20 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, lance-elliptic, plane or twisted, soft-hairy or glabrous; styles 0.3-1.5 mm long; seeds 20-50, about 1 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Draba aurea
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)
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 |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
1770 | 7 | 2430 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
34 | 0 | 72 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
187 | 35 | 355 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 5 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
56 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(9), BAFA(2), ESSF(25), IDF(2), IMA(3), MS(2), SBS(1), SWB(5) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry forest openings, meadows, rocky slopes and talus slopes from the montane to alpine zones; frequent throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to PQ and S to N WA, ID, MT, NM and AZ.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Draba aurea var. leiocarpa (Payson & H. St. John) C.L. Hitchc.
Draba aurea var. neomexicana (Greene) Tidestrom
Draba minganensis (Victorin) Fern.
Draba neomexicana Greene