Spring draba (Draba verna)

Synonyms: Erophila verna

Common Names: Spring whitlow-grass

Description: Believed to have been brought to North American when the European colonizers came to the New World.

Habit: Small annual or winter-annual, reaching a height of 2-6 inches tall.

Leaves: Basal, 1/4 - 3/4 in. long, oblong to spatula-shaped, toothless or with 1 or 2 teeth per side, blunt to pointed tip, short-stalked to stalkless, dimpled with branching hairs.

Stems: Wiry, green to purplish in color, unbranched, single or multiple from the base, lower stem sparsely covered in a mix of branched and unbranched hairs becoming hairless.

Flowers: Elongated clusters, 4-20 stalked flowers at the stem tips, 1/8 in across, 4 petals, white in color, yellow at the base, cleft half or more their length - may appear as 8 petals. 6 stamens, yellow in color.

Fruit and seeds: Flattened, oblong-elliptic pod, 1/3 in. long, half or less wide, ascending to spreading on a straight or slightly curved stalk, 3/4 in long, 40 seeds each pod. Seeds are 0.5 mm ong, oval, slightly flattened, golden brown in color, textured surface.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Can be found growing in disturbed areas, lawns, fields, waste places, and roadsides.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Carolina whitlow-grass (Draba reptans)

Monitoring and rapid response: Hand-pull as much as possible and mow before or during flowering. Fertilization, watering and mulching have can also be effective in reducing emergence.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from Minnesota Wildflowers, Michigan State University Extension and University of Michigan Herbarium.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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