Arabis glabra

Tower mustard

About plant names...

The aptly named tower mustard is a widespread North American native plant.

Identification: I first noticed these in the late summer—tall, rigid clusters of dead sticks, lacking flowers or seeds or leaves. The “sticks” are actually seedpods. Tower mustard begins with a rosette of gray leaves, and in the second year, it produces a flowering stalk up to about 3½' (1 m) high. A few nondescript leaves alternate along the stalk, which may branch at the top into slender shoots. Small, four-petaled, cream-colored flowers, each about ¼" (6.3 mm) in size, cover some of the shoots. The shoots are siliques, narrow, rounded seedpods that look more like stems than seedpods.

Online References:

Arabis glabra at Illinois Wildflowers

Arabis glabra on Calflora

Arabis glabra on Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

Arabis glabra on CalPhotos

Arabis glabra on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Arabis glabra on the University of Massachusetts Landscape, Nursery & Urban Forestry Program

Arabis glabra on

5/25/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 6 × 9" (15 × 23 cm)

5/19/2016 · Bemis Road Trails, Pepperell, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 9 × 10" (22 × 25 cm)

8/4/2009 · Near Nashoba Hospital, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 21 × 32" (53 × 80 cm)

Arabis glabra description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

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8/6/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 31 × 46" (78 × 117 cm)

7/11/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, near NH Line, Dunstable, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 26 × 37" (67 × 92 cm)

5/25/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 9 × 20" (23 × 51 cm)

8/6/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 8 × 12" (20 × 31 cm)

7/21/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 3½ × 5" (9.2 × 13 cm)