Flowers of var. rediviva
Flowers of var. minor (Rydb.) Munz
Lewisia rediviva Pursh (Fl. Amer. Sept.: 368. 1813) is commonly called "bitterroot" in reference to the bitter taste of the raw or cooked roots. The species was named by the Saxon botanist Frederick Traugott Pursh (1774-1820) who studied botany and horticulture at Dresden and resided in America from 1799 until 1809. In his book, Flora Americae septentrionalis, which was published in late December of 1813, Pursh described many new American plants including more than 125 collected by Lewis and Clark (see a history of botanical exploration and discovery in North America north of Mexico).
The ill-fated Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809), co-captain of the 1804-1806 Lewis & Clark Expedition with William Clark (1770-1838), first encountered and described the plant that would eventually bear his name on 22 Aug 1805 at Camp Fortunate, a site that is now buried by Clark Canyon Reservoir in Beaverhead Co., Montana. Lewis boiled the roots given to him and "found that they became perfectly soft by boiling, but had a very bitter taste, which was naucious to my pallate, and I transferred them to the Indians who had eat them heartily" (Moulton, Journals Lewis & Clark Exped. 5: 143. 1988). Lewis gathered specimens in flower on his 1806 return trip. He probably made the collection on 2 Jul 1806 while at or near Travelers' Rest, along Lolo Creek near its confluence with the Bitterroot River in Missoula Co., Montana (Reveal et al., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 149: 27. 1999). One of the roots remained alive and was grown in Philadelphia. Pursh reported that "some accident happened" so that the plant died before it flowered.
The genus Lewisia is restricted to western North America with the majority of its 17 species found in California. The genus belongs to the purslane family Portulacaceae and is sometimes separated into its own subfamily (subf. Lewisioideae Hook. ex Torr. & A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 677. 1840) or tribe (trib. Lewisieae Walp., Repert. Bot. Syst. 5: 790. 1846). Lewisia rediviva is found mainly on flats and slopes typically in association with sagebrush (species of Artemisia) mostly below 7500 feet elevation. It ranges from British Columbia south to California and then eastward to the Rocky Mountains where it occurs from southern Canada to central Colorado. The large-flowered var. rediviva occurs throughout most of this range with the small-flowered var. minor replacing it in the low desert ranges of western Utah, central and southern Nevada, and southeastern California.
