Draba lasiophylla Royle

Draba nubigena Schulz (l.c.) is a bracteate form of this species.

The above first records of Draba lasiophylla from Hubei, Sichuan, and Xinjiang are based on Wilson 2069 (A, E, K, NY, P, W), Harry Smith 11182 (UPS), and Wu, Ohba, Wu & Fei 2108 (KUN, TI), respectively.

Perennial, caespitose; shoots 5-20(-30) cm tall, erect or suberect, leafy, flexuose in fruits, heterotrichous, tomentose with short, branched and long simple or forked white mixed hairs. Radical leaves rosulate, lanceolate, 10-20 mm long, 2-5 mm broad, acute, 0-2-dentate, densely pubescent; cauline leaves ovate-oblong, 4-12 mm long, 2-5(-6) mm broad, sessile, 1-4-dentate, acute, pubescent. Racemes 10-15-flowered, lax, increasing up to 10 cm in fruit, sometimes bracteate below. Flowers 3-4 mm across, white (rarely drying yellowish?); pedicel 4-6 mm long in fruit, ascending, pubescent. Sepals c. 2 mm long. Petals 2.5-3.5 mm long. Stamens c. 2:2.5 mm long. Siliculae 6-10 mm long, c. 2 mm broad, ovate-oblong or oblong elliptic, ± contorted or twisted, pubescent with short, branched, whitish hairs, sometimes subglabrous or glabrous; style c. 0.5 mm long, with short, depressed stigma; septum not veined; seeds 10-18 in each locule, c. 0.7 mm long, brownish.

Herbs perennial, 4-20(-28) cm tall, cespitose. Caudex slender, few branched, ultimate branches terminated in rosettes, covered with petiolar remains of previous years. Stems erect, simple, tomentose with subsessile stellate trichomes. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole to 6 mm, often undifferentiated; leaf blade lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, (3-)4-15(-18) × 1-4(-5) mm, tomentose with sessile, 4-rayed stellate trichomes the rays of which with 1 or 2 lateral branches, base attenuate to cuneate, margin entire or 1-3-toothed on each side, often ciliate at least near base, apex acute. Cauline leaves 1-4(or 5), sessile; leaf blade ovate, oblong, or elliptic, (4-)6-10(-20) × 1.5-4(-7) mm, pubescent as basal leaves, base cuneate to obtuse, margin entire or 1-5-toothed on each side, often subsetose ciliate at base, apex acute. Racemes (5-)7-20(-25)-flowered, ebracteate or lowermost flowers bracteate, at least lowermost portion elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels (1-)2-6(-10) mm, erect or ascending, straight, often subappressed to rachis, tomentose all around with subsessile, stellate trichomes rarely mixed with fewer simple ones. Sepals oblong, 1.2-1.8 × 0.5-0.9 mm, erect, abaxially pilose, base of lateral pair not saccate, margin membranous. Petals white, spatulate, 2-3.5 × 0.8-1.1 mm, apex subemarginate or rounded; claw absent. Filaments 1-1.8 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 0.2 mm. Ovules 12-20(-22) per ovary. Fruit narrowly oblong-ellipsoid to lanceolate-linear, (5-)7-10(-11) × 1.5-2 mm, erect to ascending, sometimes appressed to rachis, latiseptate, often twisted 2 or rarely 3 turns, rarely untwisted; valves tomentose or glabrous, obscurely veined, base obtuse, apex acute or acuminate; style 0.1-0.5 mm. Seeds brown, ovate, 0.8-1.1 × 0.4-0.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.

Distribution: Endemic to Himalayas.

Gansu, Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Sikkim, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].

Fl. Per.: June-Aug.

Mountain slopes, crevices, Kobresia turf; 3000-5200 m.

Draba glomerata Royle var. leiocarpa Pampanini; D. ladyginii Pohle var. trichocarpa O. E. Schulz; D. lasiophylla var. leiocarpa (Pampanini) O. E. Schulz; D. lasiophylla var. royleana Pohle; D. torticarpa L. L. Lou & T. Y. Cheo.