Rorippa elata (Hook. fil. & Thomson) Hand.-Mazz.

Three-valved fruits are occasionally produced on misidentified plants with 2-valved fruit, as seen in T. T. Yü 14587 (A, BM).

Herbs annual or short-lived perennial, (20-)30-90(-100) cm tall, sparsely to rarely densely hirsute, glabrous or glabrescent above. Stems erect, simple at base, often branched above. Basal leaves not rosulate, soon withered, petiolate. Lowermost and middle cauline leaves often petiolate; petiole auriculate-amplexicaul at base, (0.5-)1.5-6(-8) cm; leaf blade lyrate or lyrate-pinnatifid, sometimes sinuate or undivided, oblong to oblanceolate, (1.5-)2.5-10(-14) × (0.5-)1-4(-5) cm, margin crenate; lateral lobes 1-5(-8) on each side of midvein, oblong or ovate, to 2.5 × 1.2 cm; terminal lobe oblong or elliptic, to 10 × 4 cm, much larger than lateral ones. Uppermost cauline leaves sessile, often undivided, crenate or rarely sinuate. Racemes ebracteate, to 20-40 cm in fruit. Fruiting pedicels (5-)6-10(-13) mm, erect to erect-ascending, subappressed to rachis. Sepals oblong, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm. Petals yellow, obovate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, apex obtuse. Filaments 2-3 mm; anthers narrowly oblong, 0.8-1 mm. Ovules 36-60 per ovary. Fruit linear or oblong-linear, (0.8-)1.2-2(-2.3) cm × 2.5-4 mm; valves with a distinct midvein and obscure other veins, subleathery, obtuse at both ends or retuse apically; style 0.5-1.5(-2) mm. Seeds brown or yellowish brown, ovate, slightly compressed, biseriate, 1.1-1.5 × 0.7-1.1 mm, colliculate. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 32*.

Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, Sikkim].

Sunny grasslands, mountain slopes, forest margins, woodlands, streamsides, meadows, shady ditchsides, roadsides; 2300-4500 m.

Barbarea elata J. D. Hooker & Thomson, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 5: 140. 1861; Nasturtium barbareifolium Franchet (1888), not Baker (1877), nor (de Candolle) B. Fedtschenko (1912); N. elatum (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Kuntze ex O. E. Schulz.