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Scientific classification: Kingdom
Subkingdom
Superdivision
Division
Class
Subclass
Order
Family
Genus
Species | : Plantae
: Tracheobionta
: Spermatophyta
: Magnoliophyta
: Magnoliopsida
: Caryophyllidae
: Caryophyllales
: Portulacaceae
: Lewisia
: L. rediviva
| – Plants
– Vascular plants
– Seed plants
– Flowering plants
– Dicotyledons
– Purslane family
– lewisia
– bitter root
| Variety 1: Lewisia rediviva Pursh var. minor (Rydb.) Munz
Variety 2: Lewisia rediviva Pursh var. rediviva |
Range: British Columbia to southern California; east to Colorado, and Montana. The Bitterroot plant is a low-growing perennial with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base. It grows in open woodlands and sagebrush shrublands with pine, oak or juniper in many soil types such as shale, sand, clay, granite, serpentine, or talus. About Bitterroot Plants - The Bitterroot plant is a low-growing herbaceous perennial plant with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base.
- The Bitterroot plant grows in loose gravel,dry open slopes and rocky places, sandy ground,granite or shale, mostly dry soil, sagebrush plains to lower mountains.
- The Bitterroot flowers are large for the size of the plant, 1.5 inches - 3 inches in diameter. The Bitterroots flower blooms from May to June.
- The leaves appear soon after the snow melts and often wither before the plant flowers from late April and sometimes lasting into July.
- The Bitterroot produces fruit capsules when matured, which are egg-shaped. Seeds are 6-20, nearly round, about 2 mm long, dark brown, shiny, with very minute oval bumps in regular rows, without appendage.
- The seeds will germinate in late winter or early spring.
- Native Americans were using its roots for food and trade. Tribes dug up the roots and dried them so they could be kept and used for months. The root was too bitter to eat unless it was cooked, and it was usually mixed with berries or meat.
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Plants 