Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) is a small perennial herb in the family Montiaceae. Its specific epithet ("revived, reborn") refers to its ability to regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots.

The genus Lewisia was moved in 2009 from the purslane family (Portulacaceae) with adoption of the APG III system, to the family Montiaceae.

Description

thumb|Bitterroot flower

Lewisia rediviva is a low-growing perennial plant with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base and a low rosette of thick fleshy linear leaves with blunt tips. The leaves are roughly circular in cross section, sometimes somewhat flattened on the adaxial (top) surface. The absence of an adaxial groove on the leaves distinguishes this from other Lewisia species with overlapping ranges. The leaves often wither before flowers open.

The very short flower stems are leafless, tall, bearing at the tip a whorl of 5–6 linear bracts which are 5–10 mm long. A single proportionally huge flower appears on each stem with 5–9 oval-shaped sepals and many petals. Each flower has between ten and nineteen petals that measure long. They range in color from whitish to deep pink or lavender. Flowering occurs from April through July. At maturity, the bitterroot produces egg-shaped capsules with 6–20 nearly round seeds.

Uses

The thick roots come into season in spring they can be peeled, boiled, and made into a jelly-like food.

History and culture

French trappers knew the plant as (bitter root). and (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.

thumb|L. rediviva var. rediviva, Glass Mountain, [[Owens Valley, California]]

thumb|Before flowering

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.

Based on Lewis and Clark's manuscript, Pursh labeled it "spatlum"; this apparently was actually a Salishan name for "tobacco".

The bitterroot was selected as the Montana state flower in 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

  • Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. Oregon. 1998
  • 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)