Lewisia cotyledon |
Lewisia |
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cliff lewisia, cliff maids, Siskiyou lewisia |
bitterroot, lewisia |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with enlarged caudices. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Roots | taproots, gradually ramified distally or fusiform to napiform, rarely globose and cormlike, fleshy. |
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Taproots | gradually ramified distally. |
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Stems | ascending to suberect, 10–12(–30) cm. |
deciduous, prostrate to erect, scapelike, simple or branched; nodes glabrous. |
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Leaves | basal leaves evergreen, sessile or abruptly or gradually narrowed to broad petiole, blade oblanceolate, obovate, spatulate, or rarely ± linear or ± orbiculate, ± flattened, 3–14 cm, margins entire, crisped, or toothed, apex truncate, emarginate, retuse, or rounded; cauline leaves alternate, intergrading with bracts, blade oblong to ovate, 5–10 mm, margins glandular-toothed, apex acute to occasionally obtuse. |
basal or basal and cauline; basal leaves evergreen or ephemeral, in basal rosettes or tufts (except in L. triphylla); cauline leaves, if present, alternate, opposite, or whorled, ± sessile or gradually or abruptly narrowed basally into broad, clasping petiole; blade fleshy, margins entire, toothed, or crisped, often hyaline near base. |
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Inflorescences | dense, paniculate to subumbellate cymes, 10–50-flowered; bracts alternate or opposite proximally, 2 at each flowering node distally, obovate to lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins glandular-toothed, apex acute. |
racemose, paniculate, or subumbellate cymes, pedunculate, or with flowers borne singly; bracts persistent, 2(–9) at each flowering node, subequal, margins entire, toothed, or glandular-toothed, herbaceous or scarious. |
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Flowers | pedicellate, not disarticulate in fruit; sepals 2, suborbiculate to broadly ovate, 4–6 mm, herbaceous at anthesis, margins glandular-toothed, apex obtuse to truncate; petals 7–10, usually pink-purple with pale and darker stripes, less often white, cream with pink-orange stripes, ± orange, or yellow, oblanceolate, obovate, or spatulate, (8–)12–20 mm; stamens 5–12; stigmas 2–4; pedicel 2–5 mm. |
pedicellate or sessile, persistent or disarticulate in fruit; sepals persistent, 2(–9), equal or subequal when paired, margins entire, toothed, or glandular-toothed, herbaceous or scarious; petals (4–)5–10(–19), twisting about and falling away with capsules after anthesis; stamens 1–50, distinct to scarcely connate and/or adnate to petals basally; ovules 1–50; style branched; stigmas 2–8. |
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Capsules | 3–5 mm. |
dehiscence circumscissile near base, splitting from base toward apex. |
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Seeds | 4–15, 1.5 mm, shiny, smooth. |
1–50, brown or black, smooth or minutely sculpted, estrophiolate. |
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x | = 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. |
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Lewisia cotyledon |
Lewisia |
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Distribution |
CA; OR
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w North America (including Mexico) |
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). The varieties occasionally co-occur. Natural hybrids with Lewisia leeana are known (see discussion under 8. L. leeana). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species 16 (16 in the flora). The number and circumscription of species in Lewisia are not widely agreed upon because of morphological variability and intergradation. Natural hybridization is inferred for some plants. In cultivation, the species reputedly freely intercross; most hybrid offspring are sterile. Most species are cultivated by alpine/succulent plant enthusiasts. In the wild, the plants usually occur in small, isolated populations in rocky or gravelly places, especially in canyons or alpine flats. The key to species here has been modified from B. Mathew (1989b). Hybrids, cultivars, and plants in cultivation may not key satisfactorily. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 480. | FNA vol. 4, p. 476. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Portulacaceae > Lewisia | Portulacaceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Calandrinia cotyledon, Oreobroma cotyledon | Erocallis, Oreobroma | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (S. Watson) B. L. Robinson: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1: 268. (1897) | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 360. (1814) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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