Sweden wildflowers: Alpine rockcress

Arabis alpina, SE: Fjälltrav, DE: Alpen-Gänsekresse,
NL: Randjesbloem, UK: Alpine rockcress


Scientific name:		Arabis alpina L.
Synonym name:		Arabis merinoi Pau, Arabis pieninica Wol.
Swedish name:		Fjälltrav
German name:		Alpen-Gänsekresse
Nederlandse naam:		Randjesbloem
English name:		Alpine rockcress
Plant Family:		Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, Mustard family, Korsblommiga växter


Life form:		Herbaceous-chamaephytic
Stems:		Height 10–30 cm
Leaves:		Rosette, long, dentate and clearly stalked
Flowers:		Regular (actinomorphic). 4 white petals, with rounded tip; 4 sepals four, with pointed tip, swollen base, and membranous margins; pistil formed from two fused carpels; 6 stamens, two of them short, four long.
Flowering Period:		June, July, August
Fruits:		Pod, 2–3 cm long, divided in two by a membranous wall (a siliqua); fruit-stalk directed obliquely upwards ca. 1 cm long; seed brown, roundish, flat, and narrowly and imperfectly winged
Habitat:		Mountains, damp areas and cliffs

Derivation of the botanical name:
Arabis, a Greek word used for "mustard" or "cress," and the Greek word for Arabia.
alpina, of alps, mountains.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
The standard author abbreviation Pau is used to indicate Carlos Pau (1857 – 1937), a Spanish botanist and pharmacist.
The standard author abbreviation Woll. is used to indicate Eustach Woloszczak (1835 - 1918), professor at Lviv Polytechnic National University (Lemberg) Poland and is now in western Ukraine.