Rock cress
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rock_cress".

For the Royal New Zealand Navy corvette, see HMNZS Arabis (K 385).
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Arabis
Arabis ferdinandi-coburgii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Arabis
Adans.
Species

See text.

Arabis (rockcress) is a genus of flowering plants, within the family Brassicaceae, subfamily Brassicoideae.

Arabis procurrens flowers
Arabis procurrens flowers

Though traditionally recognized as a large genus with many Old World and New World members, more recent evaluations of the relationships among these species using genetic data suggest that there are two major groups within the old genus Arabis. These two groups are not each others closest relatives, so have been split into two separate genera. The Old World members all remain in the genus Arabis, whereas most of the New World members have been moved into the genus Boechera, with only a few remaining in Arabis.

The species are herbaceous annual or perennial plants, growing to 10-80 cm tall, usually densely hairy, with simple entire to lobed leaves 1-6 cm long, and small white four-petalled flowers. The fruit is a long, slender capsule containing 10-20 or more seeds.

Some species, notably A. alpina, are cultivated as ornamental plants in gardens. Many others are regarded as weeds.

Selected species
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