PORTULACACEAE

PURSLANE FAMILY

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 3–18, free or ± fused; stamens 1–many, free or inserted on corolla; ovary superior or partly inferior, chamber 1, placenta free-central or basal; styles 2–8, generally fused at base
Fruit: capsule, circumscissile or 2–3-valved
Seeds 1–many, 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 50:566–598]
Family description and key to genera by Dieter H. Wilken & Walter A. Kelley.

LEWISIA

Lauramay T. Dempster

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 1–many, generally leafless but bracted, sometimes disjointing in age, 1–many-flowered
Flower: sepals 2–8, free, persistent; petals 4–18, variously colored, overlapping in bud; stamens 5–many; styles 2–8, fused at base, stigmas 2–8, thread-like
Fruit: capsule, translucent, spheric or ovoid, circumscissile near base
Seeds 2–many, dark, generally shiny, smooth or finely tuberculate
Species in genus: ± 20 species: w North America
Etymology: (Captain Meriwether Lewis, 1774–1809, 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

L. glandulosa (Rydb.) Dempster

Root + caudex elongate, generally widest at top, tapered or branched below
Leaves many, in dense rosette, generally 2–10 cm, thread-like to narrowly lanceolate, entire, generally persistent after withering, tapered to fleshy, expanded base; tip obtuse
Inflorescence: stems many, 1–3.5 cm, 1- or often 2-flowered; flowers not or barely exserted from leaves; bracts in 1–2 irregular pairs, above middle of stem, ± ovate, gland-toothed
Flower: sepals 2, ± 1/2 X corolla, roundish or truncate, margin reddish gland-toothed; petals 6–8, ± 8 mm, obovate, white, pink, or reddish, tip irregular, generally acuminate; stamens 6; stigmas 4
Ecology: Granite sand, rock cracks, wet meadows
Elevation: 3000–4000 m.
Bioregional distribution: c&s High Sierra Nevada, East of Sierra Nevada
Flowering time: Jul–Sep
Synonyms: L. pygmaea subsp. g. (Rydb.) Ferris