Draba alpina Linnaeus var. involucrata W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 8: 121. 1913; D. alpina var. leiophylla Franchet; D. involucrata var. lasiocarpa W. T. Wang.

Herbs perennial, 0.5-3 cm tall, densely cespitose, scapose. Caudex many branched, ultimate branches terminated in rosettes and covered with petiolar remains of previous years. Stems erect, simple, often densely tomentose with a mixture of subsessile, forked and 3- or 4-rayed stellate trichomes, very rarely glabrescent distally. Basal leaves rosulate, persistent; petiole 1-5(-8) mm, persistent, rarely ciliate with simple trichomes; leaf blade suborbicular or obovate, 2-5 × 1-4 mm, abaxially sparsely to densely tomentose with subsessile, forked and 3- or 4-rayed stellate trichomes with unbranched rays, adaxially glabrous or sparsely tomentose, base cuneate, margin entire, apex rounded or obtuse. Cauline leaves absent. Racemes 3-8-flowered, ebracteate, elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels 2-7(-10) mm, divaricate straight, tomentose all around, very rarely glabrescent. Sepals oblong, 1.2-2 × 0.6-1.2 mm, erect, abaxially sparsely pilose or glabrous, base of lateral pair not saccate, margin narrowly membranous. Petals yellow, obovate, 2.5-4(-4.5) × (1-)1.5-2.5(-3) mm, apex emarginate; claw absent, rarely to 1 mm. Filaments 1-1.6 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 0.2 mm. Ovules 8-16 per ovary. Fruit suborbicular to elliptic, 2-4.5(-6) × 2-3 mm, latiseptate, twisted or not; valves glabrous or rarely puberulent, not veined, base and apex obtuse; style 0.1-0.6(-1) mm. Seeds brown, ovate, 1-1.3 × 0.5-0.9 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

The records of Draba involucrata from Qinghai (FRPS, p. 140; Fl. Qinghai. 1: 438. 1997) and from Xinjiang (Fl. Xinjiang. 2(2): 112. 1995) are most likely based on misidentified plants of the closely related D. oreades. The present authors have seen no material of D. involucrata from this province and autonomous region.

* Rocky cliffs, crevices, montane ravines, scree, scrub, damp mossy rocks, streamsides; 3300-5100 m. Sichuan, E Xizang, Yunnan.