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Family: Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Mid-Atlantic bloom time:
March - May
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe:
May - June
Smooth Rock Cress is widespread and often found in dry woodlands and rocky outcrops. It is usually biennial but may be occasionally perennial. Its upright stem is glabrous (smooth, not hairy), and the base of its stem leaves often clasp the stem.
This species and several others of its North American tribe were previously listed in the genus Boechera, but DNA analysis has shown them to be closely related to an East Russian species Borodinia macrophylla. Most sources now put Smooth Rock Cress and other species in its tribe in the genus Borodinia (see Alexander et al, “Molecular Phylogenetics and Taxonomy of the Genus Boechera and Related Genera (Brassicaceae: Boechereae).” Systematic Botany 38, no. 1 (2013): 192–209. )
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24 March 2020
Scott's Run Preserve, McLean, VA 
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30 March 2023
Balls Bluff Regional Park, Leesburg, VA 
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24 March 2020
Scott's Run Preserve, McLean, VA 
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30 March 2023
Balls Bluff Regional Park, Leesburg, VA 
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30 March 2023
Balls Bluff Regional Park, Leesburg, VA (note smooth stem and its clasping leaves) 
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30 March 2023
Balls Bluff Regional Park, Leesburg, VA (basal leaves, last year's leaves purplish) 
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