Arabis bijuga

Arabis bijuga Watt, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 18: 378 1881. (Syn: Arabidopsis mollissima var. griffithiana O.E. Schulz; Arabis macrantha C.C.Yuan & T.Y.Cheo; Arabis pangiensis Watt; Parlatoria griffithiana Boiss.);

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Arabis bijuga G. Watt from above Qazi Gund, Kashmir: While driving down the Jawahar tunnel towards Qazi Gund on Pir Panjal range, I was struck by a species of Arabis with unusually large flowers, almost twice the size of closely related species Arabis amplexicaulis. It was after I studied the flowers carefully and hairs on stem that I realized it to be Arabis bijuga, a species often confused with former, but distinct in larger petals 12-15 mm long (as against 7-10 mm in Arabis amplexicaulis), usually in diverging pairs (against equally spreading), and stems and leaves with mostly stellate hairs (as against mostly simple hairs).

Arabis bijuga G. Watt in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 18:378. 1881.

syn: Arabis pangiensis Watt

Perennial herb up to 40 cm tall, erect, densely covered with short stalked stellate hairs, with few simple ones; basal leaves in a rosette, obovate-spatulate to oblanceolate on up to 5 cm long petiole, margin dentate or entire, upper sessile, auriculate at base and narrower; flowers white, in long ebracteate raceme, elongating in fruit, fruiting pedicels diverging, up to 2.5 cm long; sepals oblong, 4-5 mm long; petals white or pinkish, usually 12-15 mm long, in diverging pairs; fruit 3-6 cm long, about 1 mm broad, glabrous.

Brassicaceae Week: Arabis bijugafrom Paddar Valley J&K: Bot. name: Arabis bijuga