General: Thickstem Wild Cabbage (Caulanthus crassicaulis) is an odd name to apply to this odd perennial forb that seems to have little to do with cabbages. The other common name, Jewelflower, also seems to have little to do with this plant. The plant consists of a single, stout, upright stem to about 2-feet tall with lobed basal leaves and odd, purple, urn-shaped flowers with four little petal lips.

Thickstem Wild Cabbage is an uncommon component of desert vegetation communities on dry, well-drained sandy and gravelly sites along washes and in the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone. A good place to look for this species in Basin and Range National Monument.

Family: Mustard (Brassicaceae).

Other Names: Jewelflower.

Plant Form: Perennial from woody taproot.

Height: To about 2 feet.

Stems: Hollow, erect.

Leaves: Basal leaves: rosette, blades to about 4 inches, oblong, petioled, deeply notched; cauline leaves small, linear.

Flowers: Blooms during summer. Inflorescence: spike. Flowers: Urn-shaped, purple, with small opening surrounded by 4 tiny petals, radially symmetrical.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on flats, in and along washes, on bajadas, and on moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: About 3,000 to 9,500 feet.

Distribution: Drier parts of the western U.S., including California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona.

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