A low, tufted perennial or biennial plant with ascending or erect stems, 4 to 12 inches high, smooth above, pubescent below or glabrous throughout. Basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid, 1 to 2 inches long, spatulate or oblanceolate, pubescent or glabrous; stem leaves entire or toothed, spatulate or linear, one-half to 1 inch long. Flowers white, one-fourth of an inch broad or less, several or numerous in a terminal raceme which elongates in fruit; pedicels ascending, about one-third of an inch long or longer in fruit; petals four, much longer than the four stamens. Fruit a linear, slightly flattened pod three-fourths to 1¼ inches long; seeds in one row, oblong and wingless.

Rocky and sandy places, Connecticut and Ontario west to Manitoba and Alaska, south to Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and British Columbia. Flowering from April to September.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 54

B. Lyre-Leaved Rock Cress - Arabis lyrata