TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual or perennial herb, generally fleshy
Stems generally glabrous
Leaves simple, alternate or opposite, sometimes stipuled
Inflorescence various
Flower bisexual, radial; sepals generally 2(8), free or fused at base; petals 318, free or ± fused; stamens 1many, free or inserted on corolla; ovary superior or partly inferior, chamber 1, placenta free-central or basal; styles 28, generally fused at base
Fruit: capsule, circumscissile or 23-valved
Seeds 1many, generally black, generally shiny
Genera in family: ± 20 genera, ± 400 species: generally temp Am, Australia, s Africa; some cultivated (Lewisia, Portulaca, Calandrinia )
Reference: [Bogle 1969 J Arnold Arbor 50:566598]
Family description and key to genera by Dieter H. Wilken & Walter A. Kelley.
Perennial, generally from short, thick, ± branched taproot, topped by short, sometimes very thick caudex at or below ground level, sometimes from spheric corm
Stem: aerial parts restricted to inflorescence
Leaves generally in basal rosette, simple, entire or not; base wide; margin generally ± translucent
Inflorescence ± scapose; stems 1many, generally leafless but bracted, sometimes disjointing in age, 1many-flowered
Flower: sepals 28, free, persistent; petals 418, variously colored, overlapping in bud; stamens 5many; styles 28, fused at base, stigmas 28, thread-like
Fruit: capsule, translucent, spheric or ovoid, circumscissile near base
Seeds 2many, dark, generally shiny, smooth or finely tuberculate
Species in genus: ± 20 species: w North America
Etymology: (Captain Meriwether Lewis, 17741809, of Lewis & Clark Expedition)
Reference: [Elliott 1966 Bull Alpine Gard Soc 34]
Horticultural information: DRN, IRR: pots and rock gardens only; DRY when dormant; DFCLT.
Native |
Root + caudex short, stout, tapered or often branched below
Leaves severalmany, in spreading rosette, 28 cm, oblanceolate, ± fleshy, entire, tapered to petiole; tip blunt
Inflorescence: stems many, 13.5 cm, 1-flowered; flowers included in leaves; bracts 2, closely below and ± like sepals
Flower: sepals 2 (but seemingly 4 due to bracts), 1/31/2 X corolla, obovate-obtuse to round, entire; petals 59, 22.5 cm, oblong, white or pinkish, tip blunt or notched; stamens 915; stigmas 58
Chromosomes: n=10
Ecology: UNCOMMON. Wet meadows, open forest
Elevation: 14002300 m.
Bioregional distribution: San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges
Distribution outside California: to Utah, New Mexico, Baja California