Boechera ophira is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....

 known by the common name Ophir Pass rockcress, or Ophir rockcress. It is endemic to Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 in the United States, where it is known from Nye

Nye County, Nevada

-National protected areas:* Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge* Death Valley National Park * Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest * Spring Mountains National Recreation Area -Demographics:...

 and Lander Counties

Lander County, Nevada

Lander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 5,794. Its county seat is Battle Mountain.-History:...

. It grows on the crest of the Toiyabe Range

Toiyabe Range

The Toiyabe Range is a range of mountains in central Nevada in the western United States. It starts in northwestern Nye County north of Tonopah, Nevada and runs approximately 120 miles north-northeast through eastern Lander County, making it the second longest range in the state...

.

This long-lived perennial herb produces hairy stems up to 14 centimeters tall from a woody caudex

Caudex

A caudex is a form of stem morphology appearing as a thickened, short, perennial stem that is either underground or near ground level . It may be swollen for the purpose of water storage, especially in xerophytes...

. There are narrow, hairy leaves around the stem bases and a few higher on the stems. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

 of 6 to 15 flowers with purple petals. The fruit is a straight silique

Silique

A silique or siliqua is a fruit of 2 fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width. The outer walls of the ovary usually separate when ripe, leaving a persistent partition...

 up to 4 centimeters long.

This plant grows in subalpine

Subalpine

The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below tree line around the world. Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth, for example, Snow Gum in Australia, or Subalpine Larch, Mountain Hemlock and Subalpine Fir in western North America.Trees in the...

 climates at the crest of the Toiyabe mountain range on clay soils covered in loose quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...

 scree

Scree

Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

. It grows in sagebrush habitat alongside Artemisia arbuscula

Artemisia arbuscula

Artemisia arbuscula is a species of sagebrush known by the common names little sagebrush, low sagebrush, or black sagebrush....

, Leptodactylon pungens, and various grasses.

There are only five known occurrences of this plant, for a total of fewer than 200 individuals. The habitat is rugged and difficult to explore so more plants may exist.