Perennials; long-lived; sexual; caudex woody. Stems usually 2-5 per caudex branch, arising from margin of rosette, elevated above ground surface on woody base, 0.8-2.5(-4) dm, glabrous throughout. Basal leaves: blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 1.2-2.5 mm wide, margins entire, ciliate proximally, trichomes (simple), 0.3-0.7 mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent, trichomes short-stalked, 2- or 3-rayed, 0.2-0.5 mm. Cauline leaves: 2-5(-9), not concealing stem; blade auricles 0.2-0.5 mm, surfaces of distalmost leaves glabrous. Racemes 5-12-flowered, usually unbranched. Fruiting pedicels reflexed, curved, 5-9 mm, glabrous. Flowers divaricate-ascending at anthesis; sepals glabrous; petals white to lavender, 4-6 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous; pollen ellipsoid. Fruits pendent, not appressed to rachis, not secund, straight, edges parallel, 1.8-4.5 cm × 1.5-2 mm; valves glabrous; ovules 24-36 per ovary; style 0.2-0.5 mm. Seeds uniseriate, 0.9-1.2 × 0.7-0.9 mm; not winged. 2n = 14.

Flowering May-Jul. Rocky slopes and gravelly soil in sagebrush, open conifer forests, and subalpine meadows; 2400-3200 m; Nev., Utah.

Boechera schistacea is a sexual diploid that appears to intergrade with B. pendulina where their geographic ranges overlap in southwestern Utah.