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Roadside Rockcress (fna Arabis hirsuta)

I had been noticing a big patch of what appeared to be plants formerly known as Arabis hirsuta (now better known either by Arabis pycnocarpa or Arabis eschscholtziana though I have not been sure out which one) out along Sawmill Creek Road just past Whale Park.

Today seemed like a good time to check on those and see if, with Kitty’s help, I could learn the difference and figure out which ones we have here.

As it turned out, the ones growing along road all appeared to be A. pycnocarpa – in particular they had many more stem leaves than are expected for A. eschscholtziana. Looking back at old photos, all the ones that showed enough features to try and make a call appeared to be A. echscholtziana.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

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