Habit: Perennial herb generally from short, thick, +- branched taproot; tuberous root generally 0 (or spheric).
Stem: prostrate to erect, scape-like or branched.
Leaf: generally in basal rosette and cauline, simple, entire or not; base wide; margin generally +- translucent.
Inflorescence: +- scapose; cyme, panicle, raceme, or +- umbel; stems 1--many, generally leafless but bracted, disjointing in age or not, 1--many flowered; pedicel 0--30 mm.
Flower: sepals 2--8, free, persistent; petals 4--19, white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, rose, purple, overlapped in bud, often with pink or dark purple veins; stamens 1--50; styles 2--8, fused at base, stigmas 2--8, thread-like.
Fruit: 6--9 mm, spheric or ovoid, circumscissile near middle or below, translucent.
Seed: 1--50, dark, generally shiny, smooth or finely tubercled, 1--4 mm in size.
Species In Genus: 18 species: western North America, 16 in flora.
Etymology: (Captain Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis & Clark Expedition, 1774--1809)
Note: Many hybrids, cultivated, including
Lewisia ×whiteae Purdy in California;
Lewisia columbiana (A. Gray) B.L. Rob. not in California.
Unabridged Note: Many hybrids, cultivars (Mathew 1989), including Lewisia ×whiteae Purdy in California, as well as Lewisia columbiana (Howell ex A. Gray) B.L. Rob. from Douglas Co., Oregon north to British Columbia; Lewisia maguirei A.H. Holmgren endemic to Nevada; Lewisia sacajaweana B.L. Wilson & E. Rey-Vizgirdas restricted to Idaho; Lewisia tweedyi, endemic to northern Cascades of Washington, British Columbia now placed in Cistanthe.Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Lauramay T. Dempster
Reference: Wilson et al. 2005 W N Amer Naturalist 65:345--358
Unabridged Reference: Colley & Mineo 1985 Pacific Hort 46; Davidson 2000 Lewisias (Portland); Dempster 1996 Madroño 43:415--416; Elliott 1966 Bull Alpine Gard Soc Gr Brit 34:1--76; Foster, Carroll, & Hipkins 1997 Fremontia 25:15--19; Gankin & Hildreth 1968 Four Seasons 2(4):12--14; Heckard & Stebbins 1974 Brittonia 26:305--308; Hershkovitz 1990 Phytologia 68:267--270; Hershkovitz & Hogan 2003 FNANM 4:476--485; Hohn 1975 Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ of Washington; Mathew 1989 Kew Magazine Monogr; Daubenmire 1975 Syesis 8:9--23Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Lewisia
Previous taxon: Claytonia washingtonianaNext taxon: Lewisia brachycalyx