Draba obovata Bentham, Pl. Hartweg. 159. 1845. TYPE: Ecuador, Antisana, 15,000 ft, Hartweg 885 (holotype, K!; isotypes, B!, BM!, CGE!, E!, F!, G!, LD!, OXF!, P!, W!).

Draba obovata var. dasycarpa O. E. Schulz in Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 105(Heft 89): 141. 1927. TYPE: Ecuador, Páramo de Cerro antisana, Cerro de la Media Luna, A. Stübel 188 (lectoype, here designated, B). If I did not see the Stübel collection at B, I have seen the Whymper 1323 (#12) syntype at K!, which should be the lectotype and Whymper 1323 (#1) should by the isolectotype (K!).

     Herbs perennial, pulvinate; caudex woody, usually many branched, the branches covered with densely imbricate, persistent leaves or their petioles. Scapes (0.2–)0.5–1.5(–2) cm, erect, stellate pubescent or with a mixture of stellate and simple trichomes. Leaves rosulate, densely imbricate, persistent; petiole persistent, thickened, stramineous, (1–)1.5–3(–4.5) mm, ciliate with simple trichomes to 0.8 mm; leaf blade obovate to oblong or rarely oblanceolate, (1–)2–5(–7) × (1–)1.5–3 mm, abaxially densely tomentose with finely branched stellate trichomes with intermingled ray branches, adaxially usually with simple appressed trichomes often mixed near leaf apex with stellate ones, margin entire, apex rounded to obtuse. Racemes ebracteate corymbose, slightly elongated in fruit; fruiting pedicel divaricate to ascending, (1–)1.5–4(–5) mm. Sepals broadly ovate, erect, caducous, 1.7–2.2(–2.5) × 1.2–1.8 mm, pubescent, base not saccate; petals obovate, creamy white to pale yellow, (2–)2.2–2.6(–2.8) × (0.8–)1–1.3 mm, cuneate to a short clawlike base, apex emarginate; filaments 1.5–2 mm, slightly dilated at base; anthers ovate, 0.4–0.6 mm; nectar glands confluent, subtending bases of all filaments; ovules 4–8 per ovary. Fruit ovoid to oblong, rarely suborbicular, somewhat compressed, 3–6 × 2–2.5 mm; valves sparsely to densely pubescent with simple or forked trichomes rarely mixed with stellate ones; style 0.4–0.7 mm. Seeds brown, compressed, 1–1.2 × 0.7–0.8 mm.

Flowering: spradically throughout the year.

Habitat: páramo, consolidated moraines.

Elevation: 4000–5200 m.

Distribution: Ecuador (Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Napo, Pichincha).