Sanddune wallflower

Erysimum capitatum, the sanddune wallflower or western wallflower, is a biennial to short-lived perennial herb in the family Brassicaceae, widely distributed across western and central North America from the Great Lakes region to the Pacific coast and from southern Canada to Mexico. From a tap-rooted basal rosette of narrow, lanceolate, often stellate-hairy leaves the plant sends up one to several erect, slightly ribbed stems 20 to 100 cm tall in its second year. The terminal raceme elongates greatly as it flowers, producing densely capitate clusters of fragrant, four-petalled cruciferous flowers most commonly golden yellow or orange but ranging through cream, red and purplish-magenta in regional populations. Each flower is followed by a long, slender, four-angled silique held nearly parallel to the stem and containing a single row of winged seeds. The species occupies a wide ecological range, from sandy plains and grasslands through montane meadows to subalpine coniferous forest. All parts contain cardenolide cardiac glycosides and should not be ingested.