Single Record

Species: Boechera spatifolia [Arabis fendleri var. spatifolia] [Arabis holboellii var. fendleri] [Boechera fendleri var. spatifolia]

Counties: Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

PhotoRecords: YES Patrick Alexander: Rio Grande Co, south of Del Norte, 12 June 2008; Rich Haswell: Saguache Co, Poso cpgd, 2 July 2019

Comments: Boechera spatifolia is the second most frequently collected rockcress in the Watershed (after B. stricta). It can be found in all mountain regions, most commonly on grassy or rocky slopes but occasionally in cottonwood groves by streams, subalpine conifer woods, etc. It is a sexual diploid, forming some hybrids (e.g., B. fendleri x stricta). According to BONAP, it is found only in the Southern Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico, where it follows the Rio Grande drainage only one third of the way down the state. But Allred et al. (2020) say it is not found in New Mexico. Specimens are difficult to tell from hybrids of B. fendleri, for instance B. sanluisensis (Alexander, et al, 2015), which Allred et al. do find in the northern Rio Grande drainage of New Mexico. FNA adds that “There is little geographic overlap between [B. fendleri and B. spatifoli] with B. spatifolia confined to the mountains of central Colorado and north-central New Mexico and B. fendleri ranging from western New Mexico and the Four Corners region through northern Arizona to southern Nevada.” Perhaps here Ackerfield and BONAP depart from FNA. They show both species in the Watershed, and both in the mountain regions of the east and west Valley. For more photographs and comment, click "yes" in the Annotation field below.