Sweetwater Mountains draba facts for kids

The Draba incrassata, also known as the Sweetwater Mountains draba, is a special kind of flowering plant. It belongs to the Brassicaceae family, which is also known as the mustard family. This plant is quite rare and isn't found in many places.

Where It Lives

The Sweetwater Mountains draba is an endemic plant. This means it grows naturally in only one specific area. For this plant, that area is California. You can mainly find it in the Sweetwater Mountains within Mono County.

Its Mountain Home

This unique plant loves to live in very high, rocky places. It grows in alpine rock fields on the bare peaks of tall mountains. Imagine a place where it's often cold and windy, with lots of rocks – that's where the Sweetwater Mountains draba thrives!

What It Looks Like

The Draba incrassata is a small plant that lives for many years, which means it's a perennial herb. It forms flat clumps or "mats" of thick, oval-shaped leaves.

Leaves and Flowers

Each leaf is quite tiny, less than 1.5 centimeters long. They are mostly smooth, but they have a cool fringe of long hairs along their edges. The plant also grows straight stems, called an inflorescence, that hold several small, yellow flowers. These flowers are only a few millimeters long. After the flowers bloom, they turn into an oval-shaped seed pod, called a silique. These pods can be up to about a centimeter long and hold several tiny seeds inside.