Draba crassifolia
Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

Sub-alpine, alpine. Woodlands, tundra, scree. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, July 11, 2008.

These delicate plants are just beginning to flower and will elongate from their present two inches to perhaps four-six inches.  Stems are leafless and smooth and basal leaves may be smooth or with a hairs along the margin (ciliate).  Basal leaves range from 1-3 mm wide and 3-30 mm long in a tight tuft.  The basal leaves of the plant pictured at left are of the long and narrow type. 

The Draba genus was named by Linnaeus in 1753 and this species was named by Graham in 1829 from garden plants grown from seed collected in in the 1820s by Thomas Drummond in the Canadian Rockies.  "Crassifolia" is Latin for "thick-leaved", which these leaves surely are not.

Draba crassifolia
Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

Sub-alpine, alpine. Woodlands, tundra, scree. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, July 11, 2008.

Draba crassifolia
Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

Sub-alpine, alpine. Woodlands, tundra, scree. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, June 22, 2009.

Draba crassifolia
Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

Sub-alpine, alpine. Woodlands, tundra, scree. Summer.
Bridal Veil Falls Trail above Telluride, July 23, 2009.

For the tiny size of this plant, seed pods ("siliques") are quite large  -- approximately 6 millimeters long by 2 mm wide.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Draba crassifolia