Draba densifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Alpine Whitlow-Grass and denseleaf draba. This small perennial is native to western North America, where it is found in mountain environments above 2000 meters from California to Alaska to Wyoming. The plant forms cushion-like mats of small fleshy, hairy, pointed leaves in rocky crevices and on slopes. If it bolts a stem it is no taller than 15 centimeters. The flowers open in an obvious inflorescence of a few tiny blooms at times, but often appear as a layer on the surface of the mat of tiny leaves. The flowers are bright yellow with petals just a few millimeters wide. The fruit is a flat podlike silique less than a centimeter long. Grows in alpine rocky slopes, barren outcrops.
Draba subumbellata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by several common names, including parasol draba, mound draba, and White Mountains cushion draba. This small perennial plant is native to the White Mountains which straddle the California-Nevada state line and the Inyo Mountains nearby. It lives on barren rocky scree above 3000 meters.
Ivesia callida is a rare species of flowering plant, in the rose family, known by the common name Tahquitz mousetail. It is a small perennial herb which forms matted patches of hanging foliage on cliff faces. The leaves are strips of oval-shaped green leaflets. Each leaf is up to 7 centimeters long and has several pairs of hairy, glandular leaflets. The thin, green, hanging stems grow up to 15 centimeters long and bear an inflorescence of several flowers. Each flower has five hairy, pointed sepals and five round to oval white petals. The center of the flower contains twenty stamens with disc-shaped anthers and several pistils.
Astragalus austiniae is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Austin's milkvetch. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe. It is a plant of the alpine climate of the high mountains, where it tolerates exposed areas.
Draba breweri is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names cushion draba, lanceleaf draba, Brewer's draba, and Brewer's whitlow grass. With Draba cana now considered a variety of this species, it is distributed throughout parts of northern and western North America, including much of Canada and the western United States. The less widespread var. breweri is limited to mountainous California and western Nevada.
Draba carnosula is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Mt. Eddy draba. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of far northern California, where it is known from fewer than twenty occurrences at Mount Eddy and other peaks in the range. This is a perennial herb forming small clumps in serpentine outcrops. The leaves are located at the base of the plant, each an oval shape under a centimeter long. They are mostly hairless, except for long hairs along the edges. The erect inflorescence bears fewer than 10 yellow mustardlike flowers. The fruit is a lance-shaped silique one or two centimeters long, containing several winged seeds.
Draba howellii is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names rosette draba and Howell's draba. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of northern California and southern Oregon, where it grows in rock crevices. This is a tuft-forming perennial herb, sometimes coated in hairs. Most of the leaves are located at the base of the plant, each oval in shape, up to 2.5 centimeters long, and sometimes edged in fine teeth. There may be one or more leaves on the stem as well. The erect inflorescence bears up to 30 yellow mustardlike flowers. The fruit is an oval silique up to a centimeter long containing several seeds.
Draba incrassata is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Sweetwater Mountains draba.
Draba monoensis is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names White Mountains draba and Mono draba.
Draba pterosperma is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name wingedseed draba. It is endemic to Siskiyou County, California, where it is known only from the Marble and Salmon Mountains of the Klamath Range. It is a small perennial herb forming dense mats or cushions of hairy, oval-shaped leaves each no more than a centimeter long. The erect inflorescence bears several white flowers that yield flat oval-shaped siliques containing winged seeds.
Draba sharsmithii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Mt. Whitney draba and Sharsmith's draba.
Draba sierrae is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Sierra draba. It is endemic to the central Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from just a few occurrences in rocky alpine habitat. It is a perennial herb forming small, dense cushions of very hairy, oblong or lance-shaped grayish leaves each under centimeter long. The erect inflorescence bears several yellow flowers. The fruit is a flat, twisted, oval-shaped silique under a centimeter long containing a few unwinged seeds.
Lewisia longipetala is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names long-petalled lewisia and Truckee lewisia. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from less than 20 locations in areas not far from Lake Tahoe. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates in moist areas in rocky habitat, such as talus that retains patches of snow year-round. Most specimens grow on north-facing slopes with little surrounding vegetation. The plant thrives in the snow, growing largest and most densely in areas of high snowpack and becoming easily water-stressed when far away from areas with snow.
Packera franciscana is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name San Francisco Peaks groundsel, or San Francisco Peaks ragwort. It is endemic to Arizona in the United States, where it is known only from the San Francisco Peaks in Coconino County. It is threatened by recreational activities in its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Cymopterus goodrichii is a rare species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name Toiyabe springparsley. It is endemic to Nevada in the United States, where it occurs in the Toiyabe and West Humboldt Ranges.
Draba ramulosa is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Mt. Belknap draba and Tushar Mountain draba. It is endemic to Utah, where it is known only from Mt. Belknap in the Tushar Mountains in Beaver and Piute Counties.
Packera castoreus is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Beaver Mountain groundsel and Beaver Mountain ragwort. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it occurs only in the Tushar Mountains.
Draba exunguiculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names clawless draba and Grays Peak draba. It is endemic to Colorado in the United States.
Draba graminea is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names Rocky Mountain draba and San Juan Whitlow-grass. It is endemic to the state of Colorado in the United States, where it is limited to the San Juan Mountains.
The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations.
