EREMODRABA O. E. Schulz, Pflanzenreich IV. 105(Heft 86): 362. 1924.
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz
Tribe: Thelypodieae Prantl in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. III. 2: 155. 1891.
Name derivation: from Greek eremo, desert or uninhabited area, and Draba, genus of Brassicaceae, in reference to desert plants resembling Draba.
Type species: E. intricatissima (Philippi) O. E. Schulz (based on Draba intricatissima Philippi).
Herbs annual, somewhat fleshy. Trichomes absent. Multicellular glands absent. Stems erect to ascending, much branched apically. Basal leaves petiolate, not rosulate, simple, pinnately dissected; cauline leaves sessile, auriculate to sagittate-amplexicaul at base, entire or rarely dentate to pinnatifid on distal parts of plant. Racemes several-flowered, dense, ebracteate, corymbose, elongated considerably in fruit; rachis straight or strongly flexuous; fruiting pedicels slender, ascending to strongly reflexed, persistent. Sepals oblong, free, deciduous or rarely persistent, erect to spreading, glabrous, equal, base of inner pair not saccate. Petals yellow, erect at base with flaring blade, nearly as long as or slightly longer than sepals; blade spatulate, apex obtuse; claw obscurely differentiated from blade, shorter than sepals, unappendaged, glabrous, entire. Stamens 6, included, erect, slightly tetradynamous; filaments filiform, wingless, unappendaged, dilated at and papillose at base, free; anthers ovate, not or apiculate at apex. Nectar glands 1, confluent and subtending bases of all stamens; median nectaries present; lateral nectaries semiannular. Ovules 5-25 per ovary; placentation parietal. Fruit dehiscent, capsular siliques, oblong to lanceolate, slightly flattened and latiseptate, not inflated, unsegmented; valves papery, veinless or with an obscure midvein, glabrous, not keeled, smooth, wingless, unappendaged; gynophore absent; replum rounded; septum complete, membranous, tanslusent, veinless; style obsolete or rarely to 1 mm long, filiform, persistent, glabrous; stigma capitate, entire, much broader than style. Seeds uniseriate to subbiseriate, wingless, oblong, plump; seed coat smooth, not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent.
Two species: N Chile, S Peru.
Reference: Al-Shehbaz (1990f).