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Reflexed rockcress

Boechera retrofracta

Also called Second rockcress, Rock cress, Secund rockcress, Dangling suncress, Reversed rockcress

Reflexed rockcress
Photo: Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0

Reflexed rockcress is a biennial or short-lived perennial wildflower of the mustard family, native to cold northern and western North America. It grows wild on rocky cliffs, dry prairie and sand dunes, and is not a common garden plant, so care relies mainly on matching its dry, open, rocky native conditions.

Family
Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the soil dry out between waterings; it tolerates drought.
Soil
Lean, gritty or sandy, free-draining soil or rock crevices.
Temperature
Hardy to cold winters, suited to subarctic and subalpine climates; protect young plants from heavy wet cold.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Subarctic America to NE. & W. U.S.A.
Climate
subalpine or subarctic

About

Boechera retrofracta is a species of flowering plant in family Brassicaceae. The common names include reflexed rockcress.

Where it grows

Boechera retrofracta was listed as a threatened species in Minnesota in 1984 because of its rarity and the small size of its populations. In Minnesota populations are found in the Boundary Water Canoe Area in crevices on dry, north-and east-facing diabase cliffs, in association with other rare plants like: Physematium scopulinum (Rocky Mountain woodsia) and Asplenium trichomanes ssp. trichomanes (maidenhair spleenwort). There are also populations is Kittson county in dry prairie and sand dune habitat in association with xerophytes such as Juniperus horizontalis (creeping juniper), Orthocarpus luteus (owl clover), and Houstonia longifolia (bluets). It has also been found in bur oak savanna. In California it is found growing on rock outcrops, in sandy soil, in grasslands and sagebrush steppes, and in open conifer forests.

Other Boechera plants

Boechera constancei · Brewer's rockcress · Cobre rockcress · Crandall's Rockcress · Pinyon Rockcress · Grouse Creek Rockcress · Mt. Sapphire Rockcress · Gunnison's Rockcress · Hoffmann's Rockcress · Holboell's Rockcress · Lemmon's Rockcress · Ophir Pass Rockcress

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Boechera retrofracta by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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