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. nevadensis (A. Gray) B.L. Rob.

Root + caudex short, fusiform or corm-like
Leaves few–many, in ± loose rosette, 3–13 cm, thread-like to narrowly lanceolate, entire, tapered to base; tip obtuse
Inflorescence: stems several–many, 2.5–9 cm, each generally 1-flowered; flowers included in to barely exserted from leaves; bracts 2, below middle of stem, 6–18 mm, erect, lanceolate, margins entire, translucent
Flower: sepals 2, 1/2–2/3 X corolla, widely ovate, entire to ± jagged, tips acute, spreading; petals 6–10, 9–15 mm, ± obovate, white or faintly pink, tips blunt or ± pointed; stamens 6–15; stigmas 3–6
Chromosomes: n=±28
Ecology: Grassy meadows, moist gravel flats, open forest
Elevation: 1300–3000 m.
Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges, High North Coast Ranges, High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges
Distribution outside California: to Washington
Intergrading with L. pygmaea to Rocky Mtns.