Lewisia pygmaea
| Lewisia pygmaea | |
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| Species: | L. pygmaea
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| Binomial name | |
| Lewisia pygmaea (A.Gray) B.L.Rob
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Lewisia pygmaea is a species of flowering plant in the purslane family known by the common name alpine lewisia and pygmy bitterroot. It is native to western North America from Alaska and Alberta to California and New Mexico, where it grows in many types of moist, rocky mountain habitat, such as gravel beds and sandy meadows. This is a highly variable species with a wide distribution, and it often hybridizes with other Lewisia species, making identification difficult. In general, this is a petite perennial herb growing from a taproot and caudex unit, and producing a basal rosette of several leaves 2 to 8 centimeters long. The leaves are narrow but thick and fleshy, blunt-tipped, and linear to lance-shaped. The inflorescence is usually made up of a few very short stems each bearing one or more flowers which appear to be sitting on or within the basal leaf rosette. Each flower has 5 to 9 white, pink or red petals which may or may not have dark veining or striping. The petals are 4 millimeters to one centimeter long.
External links
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- Lewisia
- Flora of the Northwestern United States
- Flora of Alaska
- Flora of British Columbia
- Flora of California
- Flora of New Mexico
- Flora of the Cascade Range
- Flora of the Great Basin
- Flora of the Klamath Mountains
- Flora of the Rocky Mountains
- Flora of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
- Natural history of the Transverse Ranges
- Caryophyllales stubs