The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Lewisia leeana

many flower lewisia, quill-leaf lewisia

Taproots

gradually ramified distally.

Stems

spreading or suberect, 8–20 cm.

Leaves

basal leaves evergreen, sessile, blade linear, ± terete, 1.5–6 cm, margins entire, apex obtuse;

cauline leaves alternate, intergrading with bracts, blade narrowly lanceolate, 5 mm, margins entire, apex acute.

Inflorescences

paniculate cymes, 50–70(–100)-flowered;

bracts several, alternate proximally, 2 at each flowering node distally, ovate to narrowly lanceolate, 2–5 mm, margins glandular-toothed, apex acute.

Flowers

pedicellate, not disarticulate in fruit;

sepals 2, suborbiculate, 1–4 mm, herbaceous at anthesis, margins glandular-toothed, apex truncate;

petals 5–8, magenta, lavender, or white with or without magenta veins, obovate, 5–7 mm;

stamens 4–8;

stigmas 2;

pedicel 3–15 mm.

Capsules

4–5 mm.

Seeds

1–2, 2–2.5 mm, shiny, smooth.

2n

= 14.

Lewisia leeana

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Open north- or northwest-facing granitic or serpentine slopes or cliffs
Elevation 1300-3400 m (4300-11200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Lewisia leeana is known only from northwestern California and southwesternmost Oregon, and a disjunct population in Fresno County, California. As discussed by B. Mathew (1989b), Lewisia ×whiteae Purdy (California) is a natural, constantly recurring hybrid between L. leeana and L. cotyledon. In their narrowly spatulate leaves, the hybrids resemble L. columbiana out of range (cf. L. T. Dempster 1993); the flowers are reportedly more deeply colored.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 481.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Lewisia
Sibling taxa
L. brachycalyx, L. cantelovii, L. columbiana, L. congdonii, L. cotyledon, L. disepala, L. kelloggii, L. longipetala, L. maguirei, L. nevadensis, L. oppositifolia, L. pygmaea, L. rediviva, L. stebbinsii, L. triphylla
Synonyms Calandrinia leeana, L. eastwoodiana, Oreobroma leeanum
Name authority (Porter) B. L. Robinson: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1: 269. (1897)
Web links