Turritis glabraL.

tower rockcress

WFO wfo-0000407228 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Turritis glabra, photographed by Matt Pelikan
fig. a Matt Pelikan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 203937136

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
04229165
Filed as
Turritis glabra L.
Det. by
D. E. Atha 2019-01-01
Collected
D. E. Atha 2019-05-23
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 114 botanical countries

Regions where Turritis glabra is native: Algeria, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Altay, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Cyprus, Iran, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AlgeriaDR CongoEthiopiaKenyaMoroccoRwandaTanzaniaUgandaAfghanistanAltayBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina SoutheastChitaCyprusIranIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraineAlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon KoreaDelaware
Native distribution of Turritis glabra, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Utah UTA
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Cyprus CYP
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Morocco MOR
Rwanda RWA
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 589 in flower of 793 examined

Proportion of examined Turritis glabra in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 0 0 too few examined
Feb 0 2 too few examined
Mar 10 12 83% 55% to 95%
Apr 30 51 59% 45% to 71%
May 291 357 82% 77% to 85%
Jun 233 287 81% 76% to 85%
Jul 21 55 38% 27% to 51%
Aug 3 16 19% 7% to 43%
Sep 0 4 too few examined
Oct 1 6 17% 3% to 56%
Nov 0 3 too few examined
Dec 0 0 too few examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Turritis glabra observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 589 of 793 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 5 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,915 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -17.0 °C -8.6 °C 0.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.1 °C 23.9 °C 28.2 °C
Annual rainfall 498 mm 735 mm 1,354 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 49 mm 115 mm 298 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,915 research-grade observations of Turritis glabra that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 24 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Arabis columnalis Nakai
  • Arabis crepidiopoda Griseb. ex Pant.
  • Arabis excelsa Prokh.
  • Arabis glabra (L.) Bernh.
  • Arabis glabra subsp. pseudoturritis (Boiss. & Heldr.) Maire
  • Arabis glabra var. furcatipilis M.Hopkins
  • Arabis glabra var. glabra
  • Arabis macrocarpa Torr.
  • Arabis perfoliata (Neck.) Lam.
  • Arabis pseudoturritis Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Arabis turritis Vest
  • Crucifera turritis E.H.L.Krause
  • Erysimum glabrum (L.) Kuntze
  • Erysimum glastifolium Crantz
  • Psilarabis glabra (L.) Fourr.
  • Sisymbrium simplicissimum Lapeyr.
  • Turritis dregeana Sond.
  • Turritis glabra f. glaberrima Kuusk
  • Turritis glabra var. lilacina O.E.Schulz
  • Turritis macrocarpa Nutt.
  • Turritis perfoliata Neck.
  • Turritis pseudoturritis (Boiss. & Heldr.) Velen.
  • Turritis rigida Wall.
  • Turritis stricta Host

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol ARGL. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.