Lewisia leeana (orth. var. L. leana) is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name quill-leaf lewisia. It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Ranges. This is a perennial herb growing from narrow, woody taproot connected to one or more caudices. It produces a basal rosette of many fleshy flat to cylindrical blunt-tipped leaves up to 4 centimeters long. The inflorescence bears many flowers on erect, branching stems up to about 24 centimeters tall. Each flower has 5 to 8 white, pink, or purplish petals each about half a centimeter long.
Lewisia leeana | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Montiaceae |
Genus: | Lewisia |
Species: | L. leeana
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Binomial name | |
Lewisia leeana (Porter) B.L.Rob.
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This plant is named for Lambert Wilmer Lee, who collected it in the Siskiyou Mountains just south of the Oregon border in 1876.[1] It commonly hybridizes with Lewisia cotyledon in the wild, producing Lewisia x whiteae.[2]
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