Eutrema verticillatum

Description

Eutrema verticillatum is a high-alpine crucifer of the Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from Nepal and adjacent SW China, with 96 GBIF occurrences indicating a relatively narrow, high-elevation distribution. It occupies open alpine turf, gravelly slopes, moist screes, streamsides and snow-flush ground in the upper alpine zone. The collection from the Churt Khola in Nepal at about 3,500 m in July is consistent with its summer flowering in cold, moist high-mountain habitats, where it grows as a low herb among rock and short alpine vegetation.

It is a glabrous perennial herb arising from a slender rootstock, with one to several erect or ascending stems. The basal and lower cauline leaves are petiolate and entire to slightly toothed, the upper leaves becoming sessile; the specific epithet alludes to a crowded, apparently whorled arrangement of leaves or flowers along the stem. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of small white to pale flowers with the four petals and tetradynamous stamens typical of the family. The fruit is a silique or short silicula, the valves with a distinct midvein, dehiscing to release the seeds, as is characteristic of Eutrema.

The input family is recorded as "Uncategorized," but the species belongs to Brassicaceae (tribe Eutremeae); the binomial follows the recircumscription of Eutrema by Al-Shehbaz and Warwick, who transferred this taxon (basionym in Smelowskia/Braya) into the genus, and GBIF treats it as accepted. As a narrowly distributed Himalayan high-alpine endemic with few records, it warrants monitoring, though no formal conservation assessment is established.

Author: (Jeffrey & W.W.Sm.) Al-Shehbaz & Warwick · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Al-Shehbaz & Warwick: Eutrema (Brassicaceae) revision (2005)