An Attempt at a New Arrangement of Some 

 Japanese Alpine Species of Draba. 



By 

 H. Takeda. 



Half a dozen species of Draba are known from the Alpine 

 region of high mountains in Central Japan. Except one 

 species, D. japonica Maxim., all these belong to the Section 

 Leucodraba, and are of comparatively recent discovery. The 

 following species : — D. Sakuraii Making, D. sinanensis Making, 

 D. nipponica Making, and D. ondakensis Making were pub- 

 lished in 1903,"* and D. shiroumana in the following yearf by 

 the same author. While the last one is quite n distinct species, 

 the others are very similar to each other. The plants are 

 small perennials attaining about 15 cm. high or less even at 

 the period of fruit; the rosette leaves oblong or oblanceolate, 

 dentate or entire, cauline ones elliptical or ovate, more or less 

 coarsely dentate ; flowers small, white ; silicles oblong with 

 short style, glabrous, generally more or less twisted or plane; 

 seeds elliptical with tail-like appendage at the chalazal end. 

 This final character is, T think, quite a rare thing among 

 Drabas and presents a peculiar feature showing certain natural 

 relationship. The only distinction between D. Sakuraii and D. 

 sinanensis is the hair on the pedicel, which is present in the 

 former and absent in the latter. Such a distinction is really 

 not of specific value, and moreover this character is not con- 

 stant, so that these two should be considered as one and the 

 same species. The third one, D. nipponica, seems to be rather 

 different from the above mentioned, being less hairy and having 

 the stem more gracile, the leaf more deeply cut. On the whole. 



'^ Tokyo Botanical Magazine, vol., xvii., p. 40-42. 

 t id. op. vol. xviii. p. 75. 



