4. Arabis pendula Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 665. 1753.
垂果南芥 chui guo nan jie
Arabis pendula var. glabrescens Franchet; A. pendula var. hebecarpa Y. C. Lan & T. Y. Cheo; A. pendula var. hypoglauca Franchet; A. subpendula Ohwi.
Herbs biennial, (15-)30-110(-170) cm tall, sparsely to densely hispid, with subsetose simple trichomes to 1.7 mm, these mixed with much smaller, sessile, 3-6-rayed stellate ones usually 1 of its rays perpendicular to the surface. Stems erect, simple, often paniculate branched above. Basal and lowermost cauline leaves petiolate, often withered by anthesis. Middle cauline leaves sessile; leaf blade lanceolate, oblong, or elliptic, (1.5-)3-10(-15) × (0.5-)1-2.5(-4) cm, densely to sparsely pubescent, with a mixture of stellate and simple trichomes, often ciliate, base cuneate, auriculate, or amplexicaul, margin dentate, serrate, serrulate, repand, or entire, apex acuminate or acute. Racemes ebracteate. Fruiting pedicels ascending, divaricate, or reflexed, (0.5-)1-2.8(-3.5) cm, slender, straight or curved, stellate or subglabrous. Sepals narrowly oblong, 2.5-3.5(-4) × 1-1.3 mm, glabrous or variously pubescent, not saccate. Petals white or rarely pink, narrowly oblong-oblanceolate (3-)3.5-4.5(-5.5) × 1-1.5 mm. Filaments 3-4 mm; anthers oblong, 0.5-0.8 mm. Ovules 70-110 per ovary. Fruit (3.5-)4.5-9(-10) cm × 1.5-2 mm, spreading or unilaterally deflexed; valves glabrous or very rarely sparsely stellate, with a prominent midvein extending full length; style 0.2-0.8 mm, rarely obsolete. Seeds brown, ovate, suborbicular, or rarely oblong, (1.2-)1.4-1.8 × (0.7-)1-1.3 mm, flattened, uniseriate or biseriate, winged all around or only distally; wing 0.1-0.3 mm wide. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 16.
Rocky slopes, roadsides, woodlands, meadows, limestone cliffs, hillsides, waste places, thickets, forest margins, valleys, river banks, grassy areas, deserts; near sea level to 4300 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; Europe].
Arabis pendula is highly variable in the density of indumentum, fruit width and orientation, seed arrangement per locule, and development of the seed wing. The type collections of the taxa synonymized above are based on misidentified plants that represent only a few of the numerous variants that occur throughout the range of the species.