Lewisia leeana
Lewisia nevadensis
many flower lewisia, quill-leaf lewisia
Nevada bitterroot, Nevada lewisia, Sierra lewisia
gradually ramified distally.
napiform to shortly fusiform.
spreading or suberect, 8–20 cm.
suberect, becoming horizontal or deflexed after anthesis, base subterranean, 5–12 cm.
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.
basal leaves withering at or soon after anthesis, gradually narrowed to broad petiole, blade narrowly linear to linear-oblanceolate, flattened, 4–15 cm, margins entire, apex obtuse to subacute;
cauline leaves absent.
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.
usually with flowers borne singly, rarely 2–3-flowered in racemose cymes;
bracts 2, opposite, linear-lanceolate, 6–18 mm, margins entire, apex acute.
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.
pedicellate, not disarticulate in fruit, 0.5–2 cm diam.;
sepals 2, broadly ovate, 5–13 mm, herbaceous at anthesis, margins entire or with few shallow, nonglandular teeth, apex acute to subacute;
petals 5–10, white or rarely pinkish, elliptic to oblanceolate, 10–15(–20) mm;
stamens 6–15;
stigmas 3–6;
pedicel 10–40 mm.
4–5 mm.
5–10 mm.
1–2, 2–2.5 mm, shiny, smooth.
20–50, 1.3 mm, shiny, muricate.
= 14.
= 56.
Lewisia leeana
Lewisia nevadensis
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.)
Lewisia nevadensis represents one extreme of the L. pygmaea complex (see discussion under 13. L. pygmaea). Questionable geographic occurrences reflect plants that have one or more features otherwise suggestive of L. pygmaea (e.g., more elongate roots, truncate and/or toothed sepals, and colored petals); such intermediates also occur in the range of “typical” L. nevadensis (relatively robust plants with napiform roots, solitary flowers, acute sepals with entire margins, and white petals). Uncertainty respecting the affinity of specimens prevails in those from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. There are no supporting specimens from Wyoming.
B. L. Davidson (2000) noted that Lewisia nevadensis is a garden weed in Colorado; it is not clear whether or not these plants are escapes from cultivation.
The floral symmetry of Lewisia nevadensis may be somewhat elliptical, the two outer sepals and the remaining petals imbricate and opposite the sepals, giving the flowers a pinched appearance, a feature also reported for L. oppositifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
WA
SW CO Wildflowers
