sicklepod

not listed

N5? - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

12″ to 36″

White

Dry. Woods

May to July

This and other mustards (family Brassicaceae) produce chemical compounds when cells are damaged that are toxic to most animals, fungi, and bacteria.

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 22, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Sicklepod was formerly classified as Arabis canadensis. In 2003 most New World Arabis species were transferred to the genus Boechera. A recent phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Boechereae (Alexander et al., 2013) determined that the genus Boechera included species that were derived from more than one common ancestor or ancestral group (polyphyletic), and was therefore invalid. The eastern North American Boechera species formed a distinct group (clade) with the Asian species Borodinia macrophylla, and they were transferred into the genus Borodinia.

In a presentation in 2014 it was shown that there are hybrids between Boechera and Borodinia, suggesting that splitting Borodinia from Boechera was invalid. However, returning Borodinia to Boechera would make Boechera polyphyletic and therefore invalid.

The controversy has not been resolved. Most authorities, including GRIN, GBIF, BONAP, World Flora Online, and Plants of the World Online, classify sicklepod as Borodinia canadensis. Others, including ITIS, NCBI, and Flora of North America, classify sicklepod as Boechera canadensis. USDA continues to classify sicklepod as Arabis canadensis.

Plant

Inflorescence