Arabis blepharophylla
Encyclopedia
Arabis blepharophylla is a species of rock cress
Arabis
Arabis , or rockcress, is a genus of flowering plants, within the family Brassicaceae, subfamily Brassicoideae.Though traditionally recognized as a large genus with many Old World and New World members, more recent evaluations of the relationships among these species using genetic data suggest that...

 known by the common names Coast rock cress and Rose rock cress. It is endemic to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, growing mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 and nearby low-elevation California Coast Ranges.

Description

The plant sends up thin, hairy stems from a basal rosette of fuzzy leaves. It bears small flowers with four bright purplish-pink petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s.

Cultivation

It is uncommon in the wild but is often grown as an attractive, sweet-scented flowering garden plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

. There are several cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s bred for garden use.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK