DRABA MURALIS
Common Names:- Wall-whitlow-grass
Homotypic Synonyms:- Drabella muralis.
Meaning:- Draba (Gr) Acrid, a name used by the Greek physician and botanist
Dioscorides.
Muralis (L) Of the walls, growing on walls.
General description:- Erect annual or biennial with slender taproot;
Stems:-
1) 10-25 cm, simple or rarely branched, more or less stellate-hairy. With several
leaves.
Leaves:-
1) Rosette, obovate-cuneate, with simple and stellate hairs.
2) Cauline, 4-10 x 2-5 mm, ovate, cordate, at the base, semi-amplexicaul, entire or
coarsely dentate.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, many-flowered ± glabrous, elongating in fruit.
2) Petals, 2-2.5 mm, white.
3) Pedicels, patent, as long as or slightly longer than the silicula.
4) Style, short, inconspicuous in fruit.
Fruit:-
1) Silicula 3-8 mm, oblong-elliptical, glabrous.
Key features:-
1) Pedicels, in fruit as long as or longer than the silicula.
2) Silicula, glabrous.
3) Cauline leaves, cordate, at the base, amplexicaul.
Habitat:- Meadows, woodland openings, field margins, mainly on limestone. (0-)
200-1500 m.
Distribution:- Europe and SW Asia to Scandinavia and Caucasus.
Flowering time:- Apr to early June.
Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel