A hairy beast

Draba aurea, June 23, 2023

Common & scientific name

Golden draba, Draba aurea

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Mt. Champion, 11,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Ah, the wonderful yellow alpine drabas! Time to get the microscope out to study the hairs on its leaves, the only way to tell the various species apart. This Draba’s hairs are dense, overlapping each other in a tangled mess of cruciform (4-forked) hairs on top of short stalks, giving the plant an overall grayish-green look. This highly variable species can (sometimes, maybe) be distinguished from its close cousin, Draba helleriana, by (usually) the lack of teeth on the edge of its leaves, and its slightly smaller overall stature. Both are (possibly) common on the Pass, unless they’re not: Ackerman does not place D. helleriana in Pitkin or Lake Counties.