Lewisia rediviva
Oregon Bitter-Root

Family: Portulacaceae (Purslane family)

Photo taken at Leavenworth Fish Hatchery, dry sandy area with few trees

Flowers:

one flower per scape; 4 to 9 sepals; 10 to 19 petals, 18 to 35 mm, white to rose colored; 40 to 70 stamens

Leaves:

basal, thick, succulent; without margins of flattening of top and bottom surfaces; leaves either present at anthesis or withering and drying by then

Plant:

perennial. Traditionally the roots were peeled, then cooked and eaten, or dried for future use by the Coeur d'Alene, Kutenai, Okanagon-Coville, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Shuswap, Spokan, and Thompson.

Habitat:

gravelly to heavy, mostly dry soil, sagebrush plains to lower mountains

Distribution of species:

southern British Columbia to the east Cascades in Washington and Oregon to California, east to Montana, Colorado and Arizona

Distribution of genus:

more or less 20 species: Western North America