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Perennial herbs from deeply buried rhizomes, overall color dark to purplish green (sometimes yellowish); stems generally prostrate, 5-20 cm long; leaves mainly on stems (not basal), somewhat succulent, pinnately lobed; flowers 2.5-4 mm long, crowded near tips of stems, sepals 4, purplish-green, hairless and persistent in fruit, petals 4, yellow, stamens 6; seed pods shiny, 3-6 mm long, > 1.5 mm wide, hairless, styles 1-1.5 mm long, hairless, stigmas not expanded. Distinguished from Rorippa columbiae by its glabrous sepals, fruits, and styles, styles 1-1.5 mm long, and stigmas not expanded. Distinguished from R. curvisiliqua by perennial rhizomatous habit, lack of basal leaf rosette, flowers 2.5-4 mm long, sepals persistent in fruit, fruit 3-6 mm long, > 1.5 mm wide. |
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Coarse sand and sandy soils (often among cobbles or boulders) of active beaches, stream inlets, beach dunes, and backshore depressions, generally within a few feet of the local water table, in the shore zone of Lake Tahoe at elevations of 6223-6230 ft. |
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Occupies a narrow 3m-wide elevation band on the shores of Lake Tahoe, where it apparently requires an interaction of soil moisture, low competition from other plant species and coarse sandy soil texture. This habitat is nearly eliminated during periods when high lake levels are maintained, but in drought years, when lake levels drop up to six feet, this shoreline habitat is substantial |
