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. kelloggii K. Brandegee

Root + caudex short, thick, often branched below
Leaves many, in dense rosette, 1.5–9 cm, spoon-shaped or obovate, leathery, entire, abruptly narrowed to long petiole; tip obtuse
Inflorescence: stems several, 1–4 cm, 1-flowered; flowers often exserted from leaves; bracts 2, closely below and like sepals
Flower: sepals 2 (but seemingly 4 due to bracts), ± 1/2 X corolla, oblong-lanceolate, minutely gland-toothed; petals 5–9, 15–30 mm, obovate, white or pink, tip blunt, ± notched; stamens 8–20; stigmas 3–6
Ecology: Decomposed granite, slate
Elevation: 1900–2900 m.
Bioregional distribution: n&c High Sierra Nevada
Distribution outside California: Idaho
Plants in n part of CA range (e.g., Sierra Co.) are larger, with flowers more deeply colored than farther s or in ID.