Draba?

[alpinelover]

I bought these Draba named as Draba condensata, several years ago, but I 'm not sure of the name.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't know that foliage but what a delightful little plant. Perfect for a chunk of tufa.

[hadacekf]

I've also condensata Draba. It looks similar to yours.
Look into my website.

[alpinelover]

I don't know that foliage but what a delightful little plant. Perfect for a chunk of tufa.

Yes Lesley, it's a great plant in a tufarock.

[alpinelover]

I've also condensata Draba. It looks similar to yours.
Look into my website.

Yes, Franz, that's the same plant. Now, I'm sure, many thanks.

[Diane Clement]

Draba condensata is not a valid name as far as I can find.  We get seed with this name donated to the AGS seed exchange every year, but I can not find it any published lists.  This is a name I have been trying to resolve for many years - if anyone can help I would be very grateful. 

[Maggi Young]

It is certainly a widely used name.
Might it be connected with this?

Draba daurica f. condensata E.Ekman which Kew gives as a synonym of
Draba glabella Pursh     

The record derives from WCSP (in review) which reports it as a synonym with original publication details: Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 24: 286 1930. ( Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift Utgifven af Svenska Botaniska Foreningen. Stockholm )

[Diane Clement]

After tussling with the name for years, I saw the plant pictured in John Richard's diary - he has featured it in 2008 and 2009:
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/+May+/105/
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/+April+/193/

I then did a bit of research on this name last year.  Some of the following information was given me by John.   

In Flora Europaea, Draba hirta is a synonym for the high arctic Draba glabella, but the mystery plant is not that as Draba glabella has white flowers.  The mystery plant is fairly widely grown, and has been distributed under that name by Josef Jurasek and the Seed Exchanges

The plant in the picture is possibly a Western American or Canadian Rocky plant, similar to D oligosperma, ventosa, exunguiculata, densifolia but is not any of these. 

The only botanical reference that has been tracked was a chromosome count from Greenland material, with D. hirta v. condensata quoted as a synonym (Heilborn 1927).  So the pictured plant may be a Greenland or Canadian yellow flowered relative of D glabella.

Geoffrey Halliday who is an expert on Greenland Flora had never heard of  the epithet condensata at any level for any arctic Draba and there is no such name in the Flora of  North America.   

The mystery remains unresolved.

[TheOnionMan]

Diane, I love a good mystery!  During the workday when I peeked at SRGC Forum, I saw this thread and started doing some research, however, I had to get back to work.   For North America, the only Brassicaceae with the same species name is Physaria condensata (accepted by FNA) + synonyms Lesquerella condensata, L. alpina var. condensata, L. alpina ssp. condensata.  Not sure if this is the source of a possible mixup with Draba "condensata" but I suspect it is unrelated, but I'll look at some of my old floras tonight. 

It is more likely that "condensata" came from Draba daurica f. condensata that Maggi pointed out, and that it became shortened to D. condensata along the way... and who knows, the plant under that name might not have any validity whatsoever nor no relationship to a plant under the old description of Draba daurica f. condensata, just a well-established horticultural misnomer/mis-ID that lives on in perpetuity, similar to the way the NOT-Allium-loratum is well established in the large commercial bulb trade, while the true dwarf white Allium loratum lives in quiet alpine solitude away from any bulb farms.

[Diane Clement]

Diane, I love a good mystery!

Pleased to have your input, Mark.

For North America, the only Brassicaceae with the same species name is Physaria condensata (accepted by FNA) + synonyms Lesquerella condensata, L. alpina var. condensata, L. alpina ssp. condensata.  Not sure if this is the source of a possible mixup with Draba "condensata" but I suspect it is unrelated, but I'll look at some of my old floras tonight.  

I've already been down this route, and they are not connected.

It is more likely that "condensata" came from Draba daurica f. condensata that Maggi pointed out, and that it became shortened to D. condensata along the way... and who knows, the plant under that name might not have any validity whatsoever nor no relationship to a plant under the old description of Draba daurica f. condensata, just a well-established horticultural misnomer/mis-ID that lives on in perpetuity,

Yes, the D daurica route leads us back to D glabella, a possible solution, except there is no publication of a yellow flowered form of this species.  I'm a bit more inclined to your well-established horticultural misnomer ...

Now if you like a good mystery, you might like to start on Townsendia hirsuta  - what is going around under this invalid (unpublished) name??

[TheOnionMan]

Now if you like a good mystery, you might like to start on Townsendia hirsuta  - what is going around under this invalid (unpublished) name??

Most likely another misapplied or concocted name of no validity, only existing in horticulture. There it is, showing up on seed exchange lists, for sale from commercial seed companies, and referenced and pictured on plant-related web sites.  I found the following link depicting Townsendia "hirsuta", the photo is surely an Aster and not a Townsendia:  
http://www.filuna.cz/picture/Filunafotky/Mate%E8nice/Townsendia%20hirsuta.jpg

I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[Great Moravian]

Draba condensata photographed on Mt Evans, Colorado might be the plant.
http://www.photosbygerhard.com/detail.php?offset=16&class=Plants

[Lori S.]

Please refer to the preceding entries re. "Draba condensata":

Draba condensata is not a valid name as far as I can find.  We get seed with this name donated to the AGS seed exchange every year, but I can not find it any published lists.  This is a name I have been trying to resolve for many years - if anyone can help I would be very grateful. 

[TheOnionMan]

Draba condensata photographed on Mt Evans, Colorado might be the plant.
http://www.photosbygerhard.com/detail.php?offset=16&class=Plants

The Photos by Gerhard has made a mistake, there is nothing by the name of Draba condensata on Mt. Evans, nor in Colorado, nor anywhere in North America. However, this person's post with a misidentification is very effective at perpetuating the mistake.

For a quick view of what Draba species exist in North America, use the following link.  You can familiarize yourself which state is Colorado in the map, but click on a species, then mouse over the filled in States and it will tell you what State it is.  Once you know which State is Colorado, at a glance you can find a list of species of Draba that live in Colorado.

USDA list of Draba species with distribution maps:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DRABA

Lori, I will be starting a similar thread on NARGS about fictitious plants or mislabeled plants that only exist in Horticulture

[Diane Clement]

The Photos by Gerhard has made a mistake, there is nothing by the name of Draba condensata on Mt. Evans, nor in Colorado, nor anywhere in North America. However, this person's post with a misidentification is very effective at perpetuating the mistake.

The picture may be the same as the mystery plant.  So now the big question, is - what is the correct name of the plant pictured in the link?  Panyoti will surely know, if, indeed the picture was taken on Mount Evans, this bit is probably correct.