ANELSONIA  J. F. Macbride & Payson, Bot. Gaz. 64: 81. 1917.

Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz

Tribe: Boechereae Al-Shehbaz, Beilstein & E. A. Kellogg, Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 111. 2006.

Name derivation: For Aven Nelson, 1859–1952, noted American botanist and expert on the Rocky Mountains flora.

Type species: A. eurycarpa (A. Gray) J. F. Macbride & Payson (based on Draba eurycarpa A. Gray).

     Herbs, perennial, cespitose, scapose, with many-branched, deep caudex. Trichomes soft, short-stalked, dendritic or irregularly forked. Multicellular glands absent. Stems unbranched, erect. Basal leaves petiolate, rosulate, simple, entire, persistent; cauline leaves absent. Racemes few to several flowered, ebracteate, corymbose, not or only slightly elongated in fruit; rachis straight; fruiting pedicels suberect to ascending, persistent, slender. Sepals oblong, free, early caducous, erect, equal, base of lateral pair not saccate. Petals white to purplish, erect at base, slightly longer than sepals; blade oblanceolate, obtuse; claw undifferentiated from blade. Stamens 6, included, erect, slightly tetradynamous; filaments wingless, unappendaged, glabrous, free; anthers ovate, not apiculate. Nectar glands confluent, subtending bases of all stamens, median glands present. Ovules 10–24 per ovary; placentation parietal. Fruits dehiscent siliques or silicles, lanceolate, broadly oblong, to narrowly ovate, latiseptate, not inflated, unsegmented; valves papery, with a distinct midvein and somewhat anatosomosing lateral veins, glabrous, not keeled, not torulose, wingless, unappenaged; gynophore obsolete to 1 mm; replum rounded, visible; septum complete, membranous, veinless; style distinct, 1–2 mm, persistent; stigma capitate, entire, unappendaged. Seeds biseriate, wingless, oblong, somewhat flattened; seed coat not mucilaginous when wetted, silvery papillate; cotyledons accumbent. x = 7.

     One species: W United States.

Reference:  Macbride and Payson (1917).

Anelsonia eurycarpa  (A. Gray) J. F. Macbride & Payson, Bot. Gaz. 64: 81. 1917; Draba eurycarpa A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 6: 520. 1865; Parrya eurycarpa (A. Gray) Jepson, Man. Fl. Pl. Calif. 434. 1925; Phoenicaulis eurycarpa (A. Gray) Abrams, Ill. Fl. Pacific States 2: 290. 1944. TYPE: United States, California, peak on Sierra Nevada S of near Sonora Pass  11,500 ft, 19 Jul 1863, W. H. Brewer 1909 (holotype, GH!; isotype, US!).

Parrya huddelliana A. Nelson, Bot. Gaz. 54: 139. 1912. TYPE: United States, Idaho, Custer Co., Bear Canyon, Mackay, black limestone slide rock, 10,000, 31 Jul 1911, A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride 1466 (holotype, RM!; isotypes, DS!, GH!, MO!, NY!, POM!, UC!, US!).

     Herbs, scapose, sparsely to densely pubescent; caudex many branched, the ultimate slender branches covered by petiolar remains of previous years and ending in rosettes. Stems 1–4 cm, leafless. Basal leaves rosulate, tufted; petiole 5–10 mm, persistent and becoming stramineous; leaf blade narrowly oblanceolate to broadly linear 5–18 x 1–2 mm, base attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse. Racemes 1–10-flowered; fruiting pedicels ascending to suberect, 4–15 mm, slender, pilose. Sepals purple, 4–5 x 1.5–2 mm; petals white to purplish, oblanceolate, 4.5–6 x 1.7–2.3 mm; filaments 3.5–4.5 mm; anthers 0.5–0.7 mm. Fruit lanceolate, broadly oblong, to narrowly ovate, 1.5–3 cm x 5–9 mm, latiseptate, erect; valves purplish, glabrous, often glaucous, base obtuse, apex acute to acuminate; gynophore obsolete or to 1 mm; style 1–2 mm. Seeds brown, oblong to ovate, 2–3 x 1.2–1.5 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering: Jun–Jul.