Draba aizoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, known as yellow whitlow-grass. It is native to Europe where it is found on limestone rocks and walls. In the British Isles it is found only on the Gower Peninsula in Wales.
Description
Draba aizoides is a perennial plant, with a basal rosette of linear, stiff, entire leaves fringed with white bristles. The erect hairless and leafless stems grow to 10 centimetres (4in), or exceptionally to 15cm (6in), and carry a small number of yellow flowers. These have four broad, hardly-notched petals and four hairless sepals. The seed pods are elliptical. The plant flowers in March and April in the British Isles.[1][2]
This plant was first discovered in 1795 in the British Isles, and genetic analysis has shown that the populations in the Gower are quite distinct from those growing in continental Europe, so the plant does seem to be native to Britain. Although its total population is very small, its overall distribution has largely remained stable; plant collectors have removed some plants but the less accessible ones are persisting, although in some sites they have decreased somewhat for reasons that are not clear.[5]
