''Draba cruciata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known as the Mineral King draba. This is an uncommon plant

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it is known only from the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

. It was named for

Mineral King Mineral King is a subalpine glacial valley located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park, in the U.S. state of California. The valley lies at the headwaters of the East Fork of the Kaweah River, which rises at the eastern part of the vall ...

, a historic valley in the area. This plant is a squat, mat-forming perennial adapted to high mountain climates. It has small paddle-shaped leaves covered in a thick coat of hairs. It bears an

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

of 5 to 20 yellow flowers, each flower about a centimeter across. The stem bears widely spaced fruits, which are siliques about a centimeter long each.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery

cruciata ''Cruciata'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found in Europe, northern Africa, and across southern and central Asia from Turkey to the western Himalaya and north to the Altay region of Siberia. Species * '' Cruci ...

Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Brassicales-stub