Arabis pterosperma Edgew. in Trans. Linn. Soc., Lond. 20: 33. 1846. A. alpina auct. non L.; Hook. f. & T. Anderson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 135. 1872. Arabidiopsis mollissima auct. non N. Busch.; Hara, Fl. E. Himai. 2: 42. 1971.

Herbs, biennial or rarely perennial, erect, up to 45 cm high, simple or branched, hoary with forked or stellate hairs. Basal leaves in rosette, oblong-lanceolate to spathulate, shallowly crenate-serrate along margins, obtuse or subacute, 2 - 4.5 x 2.5 - 1.5 cm, petioled; cauline leaves oblong, with obtuse basal lobes, 1 - 2 x 0.3 - 0.8 cm, sessile. Racemes 20 - 30-flowered, up to 12 cm long in fruit. Flowers ca 5 mm across, white; pedicels slender, 8 - 10 mm in fruit. Sepals elliptic-oblong, 3 - 4 mm long, glabrous, white-margined. Petals spathulate with long claws, 6 - 7 mm long, ca 1.5 mm wide. Stamens ca 3 mm long. Fruits erect or ascending at first, later spreading, compressed, 3.5 - 6 cm long, glabrous; valves 1-nerved; seeds 25 - 30 in each locule, margined.

Fl. & Fr. May - Sept.

Distrib. India: Alpine grasslands, 3000 - 4000 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim.

Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.

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