Lewisia rediviva, Bitterroot

10/18/2014 12:42 PM

Lewisia rediviva, Bitterroot, Montiaceae family

This is the north end of long rock ridge

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One of the many curious things about L. rediviva is that it seems most happy on what seems to be nearly bare rock. It doesn’t seem like there is room below it for its big heavy roots to develop.

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Now that I think of it, Lomatium gormanii, salt and pepper, the first plant to bloom, seems to prefer bare rock for a home, It, too is a food plant for First Americans, though it is not highly esteemed.

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The other Montiaceae family plant discussed is Montia linearis, narrow-leaf miner’s lettuce. M. linearis doesn’t look like L. rediviva. The two plants share fleshy cylindrical leaves.

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Southwest Colorado Wildflowers says: “In 1814 Frederick Pursh named a new genus "Lewisia"in honor of Meriwether Lewis who collected the first specimens of this genus in Montana in 1806.  The species Lewis collected was named Lewisia rediviva, for it would "revive" and grow even after being stored for long periods of time.”

L. rediviva is an interesting plant in a number of ways. The common name says it’s bitter and the sources say it tastes bitter but it is highly prized by at least some First Americans. It is rather difficult to harvest. A small sack is said to have been traded for a horse.

Montana Plant Life says a very small amount is believed to be enough nourishment for an active person for a day.

Lewisia rediviva is a perennial plant that rises from a caudex above thick, branched tap-root.

I think this drawing from The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia is more informative than a photo though I suppose I should publish both, next year. L. rediviva is so pretty I dislike killing one for a photo of its root even though there are many in the park.

The caudex is branched in this photo.

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A rosette of succulent [fleshy], cylindrical leaves rises from the caudex early in the year, long before anthesis, [Yeah. Anthesis has become a favorite word. Mea culpa, I, too, have sinned.] long before blossoming.

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Ok, I got loose with photo processing. I like it. I hope you do.

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I saw this patch for two years. I didn’t see it flower.

I didn’t know, at the time, that L. rediviva was only in bloom for two or three days. I didn’t get out often enough to find it blossom.

I can’t find it anymore. It seems too large to be L. rediviva.

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I think these are leaves emerging from a caudex. I have seen L. rediviva at this location in past years.

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Anthesis is only two or three days, according to my resources. Some sources call L. rediviva ‘ephemeral’. I haven’t paid attention, yet.

Wikipedia says the Lemhi Shoshone believed the small red core found in the upper taproot had special powers, notably being able to stop a bear attack. I haven’t tested this wisdom, either.

The white flowers are still L. rediviva, not even a variety. But they seem to come-on a week later than the pink flowers. There are white L rediviva in only one small area of the park, on the large outcrop south of the west entrance.

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The leaves are said to be gone by anthesis. Where do they go? My first thought was that they dry up and look like straw … dry grass.

Looks possible. But it’s not.

It looks like there might be dry sepals on the ground left over from last year.

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I need to say that my work as a filing clerk with these files and folders was not what it should have been.

Eventually I found these photos of unhappy R. rediviva leaves.

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The mid-rib of a leaf shows as the leaf seems to be going flat. Or perhaps the leaf has merely caved in, become concave as it dried.

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Have they shriveled up? Some leaves seem to have withdrawn, like angleworms into their tunnels.

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The sepals are not green and leaf-like. They are petal-like but they are visibly different. Their difference is often obvious.

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But sometimes it is less obvious. The sepals, here, look a lot more like petals.

I think the white objects are moss fruiting bodies.

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One of the several strange aspects of L. rediviva is its many long, looping stigmas. I suppose that is related to the ephemeral character of its anthesis. [I’m getting lots of practice with anthesis.] It doesn’t have much time to get the work done.

Styles about the same length as the stamen and what look to be stigma curled on top of them.

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In the photo below the stamen are still vertical. The style is hard to see but it is about the same length as the stamen.

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The stigma lengthening

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The stigma spreading. There are 8 stigma. The pistil must be made up of 8 carpels.

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How about that octopus! I count 9 stigma here. The stamen seem to be pushed down by the stigma.

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This seems to be a superior ovary with the stamen rising from it.

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The deep incision in the stem is another curiosity for me. The sources go into detail describing the bracts that rise from its ring. I suppose it is a node.

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Paul Slichter has this: “After flowering, the sepals close around the ovary. On maturation of the seeds, the sepals and enclosed ovary as a unit tend to break free of the scape and are then blown across the ground, scattering seeds away from the parent.”

Flora of North America says of the flowers that they are ‘disarticulate’ in fruit. That seems to mean that they fall off their flower stalk.

The following two photos seem to be of flowers that have disarticulated and blown away. 250

It looks in this photo as if the petals have closed around the fruit, as Paul Slichter said they do. The petals are closed. The sepals are still closing … perhaps.

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In the following two photos it seems the flower has not yet broken away from its stem

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These must be fruit but they look like seeds. Jepson and E-FLORA BC both refer to the fruit as a capsule. Both say that there are 6 to 20 or 25 shiny seeds. E-FLORA BC says the seeds are dark brown. These are shiny and dark brown. Why aren’t they covered?

Whatever they are there seems to be more than 15 of them.

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Jepson Herbarium provides information on the family, the genus and the species of the plants they treat. In discussing the Montiaceae family seeds: “… generally with oil-filled appendage as food for ants.” It would be interesting to know more about that.

Montana Plant life says the seeds of L. rediviva are without appendage. But one wonders about the white structures in the photo above. Could they be oil filled?

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The Fire Effects Information Database (USDA), is a very good resource when they treat the species of interest. They do treat L. rediviva.

It increases in response to heavy grazing. It is chiefly grazed by rodents. It is too little to be much use to large animals.

Flowers are open 2-3 days and are pollinated by insects, usually native bees.

Eriogonum ovalifolium, cushion buckwheat, probably acts as a seed trap. Observers found 0.7 seeds per square food on bare ground and 52.7 per square foot under cushion buckwheat. It is hypothesized that cushion Eriogonum is a nurse plant for bitterroot in south-central Idaho. Mat-forming plants may facilitate seedling establishment.

I wonder how many people spent how many hours finding and counting bitterroot seeds.

There are lots of mat forming buckwheat in Drumheller Springs Park but no E. ovalifolium. I didn’t notice a correlation between buckwheat plants and bitterroot plants. Something else to watch for next year.