12. Cusickiella Rollins, J. Jap. Bot. 63: 68. 1988.
[For William C. Cusick, 1842-1922, Oregon plant collector]
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz
Perennials; (cespitose or pulvinate, taprooted, caudex much-branched, woody, with persistent leaf remains); scapose or subscapose; glabrous or pubescent, trichomes simple, often mixed with stalked, forked, or subdendritic ones. Stems erect, unbranched. Leaves basal and sometimes cauline; sessile; basal (terminating caudex branches, thickened at base, persistent, erect), rosulate, blade margins entire; cauline (absent or few as bracts), blade (base not auriculate), margins entire. Racemes (corymbose, proximal flowers sometimes bracteate), elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, slender. Flowers: sepals (erect to ascending), oblong; petals white or yellowish, spatulate or oblanceolate, (slightly longer than sepals, base attenuate to short claw); stamens slightly tetradynamous; filaments dilated basally; anthers ovate; nectar glands: lateral annular, median glands confluent with lateral. Fruits sessile or minutely stipitate, ovoid or ellipsoid, not torulose, terete or 4-angled, (thick and leathery); valves each with prominent or obscure midvein, (sometimes keeled), puberulent or glabrous; replum rounded; septum complete; ovules 4 per ovary; stigma capitate. Seeds aseriate, plump, not winged, ovoid to oblong; seed coat (smooth), not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent or obliquely so.
Species 2 (2 in the flora): w United States.
