3.
Barbarea orthoceras
Ledebour, Index Seminum (Dorpat). 2. 1824.
Barbarea americana
Rydberg;
B. orthoceras
var.
dolichocarpa
Fernald;
Campe orthoceras
(Ledebour) A. Heller
Biennials or perennials;
usually glabrous, except blade auricles often ciliate.
Stems
(1-)2-6 (-10) dm.
Basal leaves:
petiole (0.5-)1-7(-15) cm, (rarely ciliate basally); blade usually lyrate-pinnatifid, (1-)1.5-6(-11) cm, lobes (0, 1, or) 2-4 (or 5) on each side, lateral lobes oblong or ovate, 0.2-1 cm × 1-5 mm, not fleshy, margins entire, terminal lobe 1.5-5 cm × 10-25 mm.
Cauline leaves:
blade usually lyrate-pinnatifid (sometimes undivided and margins coarsely toothed or subentire), lateral lobes 1-4, (usually oblong or ovate, rarely lanceolate, to 2 × 1 cm), margins entire, (terminal lobe to 5 × 3 cm, margins usually entire or repand, rarely dentate); conspicuously auriculate, auricles ovate or narrowly oblong, (to 8 × 5 mm, margins entire).
Fruiting pedicels
erect or ascending, (2-)3-6(-7) mm, terete or subquadrangular, stout, (narrower than fruit).
Flowers:
sepals 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 mm, lateral pair slightly saccate basally, margins scarious, (subapically sparsely pubescent or glabrous); petals yellow or pale yellow, oblanceolate, 5-7(-8) × (1.5-)2-3 mm, base attenuate, apex rounded; filaments 3-4.5 mm; anthers 1 mm; ovules (24-)26-36 per ovary; gynophore to 0.5 mm.
Fruits
erect to erect-ascending, rarely appressed to rachis, torulose, terete to subquadrangular, (2.5-)3.1-4(-4.5) cm × 1.5-2 mm; style stout, 0.5-1.2(-2) mm.
Seeds
brown, somewhat plump, ovoid or oblong, 1.2-1.5 × 0.9-1 mm.
2
n
= 16.
Flowering Mar-Jul. Open grassland, sandbars, scree, alpine meadows, ledges, rocky cliffs, forests, streamsides, railroad embankment, boggy ground, gravel pits, moist grassy slopes; 0-3400 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Maine, Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.Mex., Oreg., S.Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; e, c Asia.
M. L. Fernald (1909) reported the southwestern Asian
Barbarea plantaginea
de Candolle from Alaska, but it is certain that his records were based on plants of
B. orthoceras
, which is rather rare in New England, where it appears to be restricted to portions of northern Maine and New Hampshire.
