Arabidopsis arenicola, the Arctic rock-cress, is a plant species native to the northeastern part of North America. It has been reported from Greenland, Labrador, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. It grows on sandy or gravely beaches or stream banks at elevations below .Flora of North America v 7 p 448Warwick, S. I., A. Francis & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2006. Brassicaceae: Species checklist and database on CD-Rom. Plant Systematics and Evolution 259: 249–258. Aiken, S.G., Dallwitz, M.J., Consaul, L.L., McJannet, C.L., Boles, R.L., Argus, G.W., Gillett, J.M., Scott, P.J., Elven, R., LeBlanc, M.C., Gillespie, L.J., Brysting, A.K., Solstad, H., and Harris, J.G. 2007. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, OttawaBONAP (Biota of North America Project), floristic synthesis
Arabidopsis arenicola is a perennial herb up to tall, usually hairless or almost hairless. Basal leaves are up to long; stem leaves up to long. Flowers are white, up to across. Fruits are straight, smooth, cylindrical or slightly flattened, up to long.Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan Ali, Elven, Reidar, Murray, David Fletcher, Warwick, Suzanne I. 2006. Phylogenetic position of Arabis arenicola and generic limits of Aphragmus and Eutrema (Brassicaceae) based on sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Canadian Journal of Botany 84(2): 269-281.Hooker, William Jackson. 1830. Flora Boreali-Americana 1(2): 67, pl. 24.Gelert, Otto Christian Leonor. 1898. Botanisk Tidsskrift 21(3): 289–290.Hooker, William Jackson. 1860. Outl. Arct. Pl. 315.
A. arenicola is a self-fertilizing lineage that arose from the outcrossing species Arabidopsis lyrata, and is associated with range expansion. During this range expansion there was no significant increase in mutational load due to selfing, probably because of quasi-clonal selection.
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