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Lewisia longipetala

(Cliff Maids)

Overview

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Threatened

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Cliff Maids, Lewisia, Little Plum Cliff Maids, Little Plum Truckee Bitter-Root, Long-Petaled Lewisia, Truckee Bitter-Root, Truckee Lewisia

Description

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Family Portulacaceae

Herbs annual or perennial , rarely ± shrubby, usually succulent, usually glabrous except for nodal hairs and/or scales . Leaves alternate or opposite; true stipules absent, nodes sometimes with axillary scales and/or hairs; petiole usually poorly defined or absent; leaf blade simple , usually fleshy , margin entire. Inflorescences usually terminal , less often axillary , in cymes or racemelike panicles, forming heads of sessile flowers surrounded by an involucre of leaves, or reduced to solitary flowers. Bracts inconspicuous. Flowers bisexual , very rarely unisexual , actinomorphic . Sepals 2, free or basally connate , herbaceous or scarious . Petals 4-6 or seldom more, distinct or basally connate, imbricate, often brightly colored , usually short lived. Disk usually absent. Stamens 4-100, free, fascicled, or adnate to petals; filaments linear ; anthers 2-loculed, introrse , dehiscence longitudinal . Ovary superior or half-inferior, 1-loculed, 2-5-carpellate; ovules 1 to many, campylotropous; placentation basal or free-central . Style linear; stigma 2-9-lobed. Fruit a thin-walled capsule, circumscissile or 2- or 3-valved, rarely a nut, often globose or subglobose, smooth . Seeds many, reniform or globose, caruncle present or not; endosperm mostly copious , surrounded by embryo.

About 19 genera and 500 species: mainly in more arid regions of S hemisphere, especially Africa, South America, and Australia, fewer species in Asia, Europe, and North America; two genera (one introduced ) and six species (two endemic, two introduced) in China.[1]

Genus Lewisia

Herbs, perennial , with enlarged caudices. Roots taproots , gradually ramified distally or fusiform to napiform , rarely globose and cormlike, fleshy . Stems deciduous, prostrate to erect , scapelike, simple or branched; nodes glabrous . Leaves basal or basal and cauline; basal leaves evergreen or ephemeral , in basal rosettes or tufts (except in L. triphylla) ; cauline leaves, if present, alternate, opposite, or whorled , ± sessile or gradually or abruptly narrowed basally into broad, clasping petiole ; blade fleshy, margins entire, toothed , or crisped , often hyaline near base . Inflorescences racemose, paniculate , or subumbellate cymes, pedunculate , or with flowers borne singly; bracts persistent , 2(-9) at each flowering node, subequal , margins entire, toothed, or glandular-toothed , herbaceous or scarious . Flowers pedicellate or sessile, persistent or disarticulate in fruit; sepals persistent, 2(-9), equal or subequal when paired , margins entire, toothed, or glandular-toothed, herbaceous or scarious; petals (4-) 5-10(-19), twisting about and falling away with capsules after anthesis ; stamens 1-50, distinct to scarcely connate and/or adnate to petals basally; ovules 1-50; style branched; stigmas 2-8. Capsules dehiscence circumscissile near base, splitting from base toward apex. Seeds 1-50, brown or black, smooth or minutely sculpted, estrophiolate. x = 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Species 16: w North America (including Mexico).

The number and circumscription of species in Lewisia are not widely agreed upon because of morphological variability and intergradation. Natural hybridization is inferred for some plants . In cultivation, the species reputedly freely intercross; most hybrid offspring are sterile . Most species are cultivated by alpine/succulent plant enthusiasts. In the wild, the plants usually occur in small, isolated populations in rocky or gravelly places, especially in canyons or alpine flats.[2]

Physical Description

Species Lewisia longipetala

Taproots gradually ramified distally. Stems procumbent , 3-6 cm. Leaves: basal leaves withering at or soon after anthesis , gradually narrowed to broad petiole , blade narrowly linear to linear-oblanceolate, flattened or channeled adaxially, 2.5-6 cm, margins entire, apex acute; cauline leaves absent. Inflorescences usually with flowers borne singly, sometimes 2-3-flowered racemose cymes; bracts 2, opposite, plus 1 subtending each successive flower if 2 or more flowers present, lanceolate, 5 mm, margins glandular-toothed , apex acute. Flowers pedicellate , not disarticulate in fruit, 2.5-4 cm diam.; sepals 2, broadly obovate , 4-10 mm, herbaceous at anthesis, margins glandular-toothed, apex rounded to truncate ; petals 5-10, white to very pale pink, often with reddish glands at apex, narrowly elliptic-oblong, 11-20 mm; stamens 7-9; stigmas 5-6; pedicel 10-25 mm. Capsules 8 mm. Seeds 20-50, 1.5 mm, dullish, minutely granular . 2n = ca. 22. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: July. • Flower Color: near white, pale pink, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: under 6" tall.

Habitat

Rock crevices or damp scree near melting snow; of conservation concern; 2600 m [3].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 12-15" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 16: 207. 1913 (As Longipetala) • Lewisia pygmaea (A. Gray) B. L. Robinson Longipetala (Piper) Ferris • Lewisia pygmaea longipetala (Piper) Ferris • Oreobroma longipetalum Piper

Notes

Publishing author : S.Clay Publication : Present-Day Rock Gard. 341 (introd. xx) 1937

Basionym author: (Piper)

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Lewisia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 56 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

L. brachycalyx (Short Sepaled Lewisia) · L. cantelovii (Cantelow's Lewisia) · L. columbiana (Columbian Bitteroot) · L. columbiana columbiana (Columbian Lewisia) · L. columbiana rupicola (Columbian Lewisia) · L. columbiana var. columbiana (Columbian Lewisia) · L. columbiana var. rupicola (Columbian Lewisia) · L. columbiana var. wallowensis (Wallowa Lewisia) · L. columbiana wallowensis (Columbia Lewisia) · L. congdonii (Congdon's Lewisia) · L. cotyledon (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon (S.Watson) B.L.Rob. var. heckneri (C.V.Morton) Munz (Heckner's Lewisia) · L. cotyledon var. cotyledon (Purdy's Lewisia) · L. cotyledon var. heckneri (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon var. howellii (Howells Lewisia) · L. cotyledon var. purdyi (Cliff-Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Blue-Purple Hybrids' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Fransi' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Heikneri Strain' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Hybrid Mix' (Hybrid Mix Lewisia) · L. cotyledon 'Little Plum' (Little Plum Lewisia) · L. cotyledon 'Magenta' (Lewisia) · L. cotyledon 'Pinkie' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Praline' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Rainbow' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'Sunset Strain' (Cliff Maids) · L. cotyledon 'White Cloud' (Cliff Maids) · L. disepala (Yosemite Lewisia) · L. glandulosa (Sierra Lewisia) · L. heckneri (Heckner's Lewisia) · L. kelloggii (Kellogg Bitteroot) · L. kelloggii hutchisonii (Kellogg's Lewisia) · L. kelloggii kelloggii (Kellogg's Lewisia) · L. kelloggii subsp. hutchisonii (Kellogg's Lewisia) · L. leana (Lees Bitter-Root) · L. leeana (Lee Bitteroot) · L. longipetala (Cliff Maids) · L. longipetala 'Little Peach' (Cliff Maids) · L. maguirei (Maguire's Bitteroot) · L. nevadensis (Nevada Bitter Root) · L. nevadensis 'Rosea' (Nevada Lewisia) · L. oppositifolia (Lone Mountain Lewisia) · L. pygmaea (Alpine Bitteroot) · L. rediviva (Bitter Root) · L. rediviva minor (Bitter Root) · L. rediviva Pursh var. rediviva Pursh (Bitter Root) · L. rediviva var. minor (Oregon Bitterroot) · L. rediviva var. rediviva (Oregon Bitterroot) · L. rediviva var. yosemitana (Bitter Root) · L. rediviva 'Alba' (Bitter-Root Sand Rose) · L. serrata (Saw-Toothed Lewisia) · L. stebbinsii (Stebbins Lewisia) · L. triphylla (Three-Leaf Bitterroot) · L. 'Constant Comment' (Bitterroot) · L. 'George Henley' (Bitterroot) · L. 'Little Plum' (Little Plum Bitter Root)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Dequan Lu & Michael G. Gilbert "Portulacaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 442. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mark A. Hershkovitz & Sean B. Hogan "Lewisia". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 458, 461, 476. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Lewisia longipetala". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 481. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012