Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
Key to families | Table of families and genera
Previous taxon Index to accepted names and synonyms:
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Next taxon


Lewisia pygmaea
DWARF LEWISIA


Higher Taxonomy
Family: MontiaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: MINER'S LETTUCE FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb; generally fleshy. Stem: 1--many, generally glabrous. Leaf: simple, alternate or opposite. Inflorescence: axillary or terminal; cyme, raceme, panicle, umbel, or flower 1. Flower: bisexual, radial; sepals generally 2(9), free; petals (1)2--19, free or +- fused; stamens 1--many, epipetalous or not, anthers pink, rose, or yellow; ovary superior, chamber 1, ovules 1--many, placenta basal or free-central; styles (0)1--8, generally fused at base, branched. Fruit: capsule, circumscissile or 2--3-valved. Seed: 1--many, shiny or +- pebbly or sculptured, black or gray, generally with oil-filled appendage as food for ants.
Genera In Family: +- 22 genera, +- 230 species: generally temperate America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Kerguelen Is, New Zealand, southern Africa, poorly represented in Europe; some cultivated (Lewisia, Calandrinia). Note: All CA genera previously included in Portulacaceae; details of flowers, seeds require 20× magnification.
Unabridged Note: May include Hectorellaceae.
eFlora Treatment Author: John M. Miller, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: LewisiaView DescriptionDichotomous Key


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.
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.
eFlora Treatment 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--23
Lewisia pygmaea (A. Gray) B.L. Rob.
NATIVE
Leaf: generally several, rosetted, 2--9 cm, thread-like to lance-linear, fleshy, entire, tapered to expanded base, tip blunt. Inflorescence: stems several to many, 1--5 cm, each 1-(several-)flowered, flowers generally included in leaves; bracts 2, at or below stem middle, +- widely lanceolate, entire or dentate, glands 0 or pale; pedicel 2--5(10) mm. Flower: sepals 2, +- 1/2 × corolla, +- ovate, rounded or truncate, margin +- jagged or toothed, glands 0 or pale; petals 5--9, 4--10 mm, obovate, white, pink, or magenta (base green), +- striped, tip +- jagged; stamens 4--8; stigmas 3--6. Fruit: 4--5 mm. Seed: 15--24, 1--2 mm. Chromosomes: n=+-33.
Ecology: Rocky slopes, wet granite sand, gravel, moist meadows, along streams; Elevation: 1700--4020 m. Bioregional Distribution: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, WTR, SnBr, Wrn, SNE; Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, Rocky Mountains. Flowering Time: May--Aug
Synonyms: Talinum pygmaeum A. Gray; Calandrinia grayi Britton; Lewisia sierrae Ferris; Lewisia exarticulata H. St. John; Lewisia minima (A. Nelson) A. Nelson; Oreobroma aridorum (Bartlett) A. Heller; Oreobroma exarticulatum (H. St. John) Rydb.; Calandrinia pygmaea (A. Gray) A. Gray, illeg.; Lewisia pygmaea (A. Gray) B.L. Rob. var. aridorum Bartlett; Lewisia pygmaea var. sierrae (Ferris) D.W. Taylor
Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Lauramay T. Dempster
Reference: Wilson et al. 2005 W N Amer Naturalist 65:345--358
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Lewisia oppositifolia
Next taxon: Lewisia rediviva

Name Search

Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback

Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Lauramay T. Dempster 2012, Lewisia pygmaea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=30838, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Lewisia pygmaea
click for enlargement
©1991 Gary A. Monroe
Lewisia pygmaea
click for enlargement
©2011 Neal Kramer
Lewisia pygmaea
click for enlargement
©2011 Aaron E. Sims
Lewisia pygmaea
click for enlargement
©2012 Gary A. Monroe
Lewisia pygmaea
click for enlargement
©2011 Aaron E. Sims

More photos of Lewisia pygmaea
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Lewisia pygmaea:
KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, WTR, SnBr, Wrn, SNE
MAP CONTROLS
1. You can change the display of the base map layer control box in the upper right-hand corner.
2. County and Jepson Region polygons can be turned off and on using the check boxes.
map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND
View all CCH records
All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
READ ABOUT YELLOW FLAGS


CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).