Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) is a small perennial herb in the Montiaceae family.
The genus Lewisia was moved in 2009 from the Purslane family (Portulacaceae) with adoption of the APG III system, which established the Montiaceae family.
Distribution
The plant is native to western North America from low to moderate elevations on grassland, open bushland and forest. A small species of dry rocky or gravelly soils, it bears a single pink to lavender to white flower.
Description
Lewisia rediviva is a low-growing perennial plant with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base. The flower stems are leafless, 1â€"3 centimetres (0.4â€"1.2 in) tall, bearing at the tip a whorl of 5â€"6 linear bracts which are 5â€"10 mm long. A single flower appears on each stem with 5â€"9 oval-shaped sepals. They range in color from whitish to deep pink or lavender. Flowering occurs from April through July. The petals (usually about 15) are oblong in shape and are 18â€"35 millimetres (0.7â€"1.4 in) long. At maturity, the bitterroot produces egg-shaped capsules with 6â€"20 nearly round seeds.
Distribution
The plant grows on gravelly to heavy, usually dry soil on grassland, open shrubland or open forest from low elevations to the subalpine. Its range extends from southern British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon east of the Cascade Range to southern California, and east to western Montana, Wyoming, northern Colorado and northern Arizona.
History and culture
French trappers knew the plant as racine amère (bitter root). Native American names included spetlum/spÌ"eÆ›Ì"mÌ" or spetlem, meaning "hand-peeled", nakamtcu (Ktanxa: naqam¢u), and mo'ôtáa-heséeo'ôtse (Cheyenne, "black medicine")
The roots were consumed by tribes such as the Shoshone and the Flathead Indians as an infrequent delicacy. Traditionally, the Ktunaxa cooked bitterroot with grouse. For the Ktunaxa, bitterroot is eaten with sugar; other tribes prefer eating it with salt. The Lemhi Shoshone believed the small red core found in the upper taproot had special powers, notably being able to stop a bear attack.
Meriwether Lewis ate bitterroot in 1805 and 1806 during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The specimens he brought back were identified and given their scientific name, Lewisia rediviva, by a German-American botanist, Frederick Pursh.
The bitterroot was selected as the Montana state flower on February 27, 1895.
Three major geographic features, the Bitterroot Mountains (running north-south and forming the divide between Idaho and Montana), the Bitterroot Valley, and the Bitterroot River (which flows south-north, terminating in the Clark Fork river in the city of Missoula), owe the origins of their names to this flower.
References
Further reading
- Johnny Arlee (2008). The Gift of the Bitterroot. Salish Kootenai College, Npustin Press. ISBNÂ 9780981683416. Retrieved 2012-07-08.Â
- Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
External links
- Media related to Lewisia rediviva
(bitter root) at Wikimedia Commons - Data related to Lewisia rediviva at Wikispecies
- USDA Plants Profile for Lewisia rediviva (bitter root)
- Calflora Database: Lewisia rediviva (Bitter root)
- Central Washington Native Plant Society
- Plants of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Bitterroot, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. Forest Service
- WSDOT - Ethnobotany - Herbs. Lewisia rediviva - Bitter-root, Sand Rose, Portulacaceae (Purslane Family)
