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| ## bitter root {#bitter-root .Title-Header}                           |
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| *Lewisia rediviva* Pursh                                              |
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| Plant Symbol = LERE7                                                  |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & East Bay Regional
Parks Botanic Garden

### ![](media/image2.png){width="1.8958333333333333in" height="2.8340277777777776in"}

#### Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: The roots were harvested with a digging stick and eaten
traditionally by the Washoe, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute,
Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Northern Shoshone, Eastern Shoshone, Utah
Southern Paiute, Northern Ute, and Flathead. The roots were also an
important food for the interior peoples of British Columbia, including
the Upper Nlaka\'pamux, southern Shuswap, Okanagan-Colville, and
southern Kootenay. Lower Nlaka\'pamux, Lillooet, northern Shuswap and
northern Kootenay peoples obtained them through trade. Families in some
cultural groups still gather the roots today. The roots are prepared for
eating by removing the bark and boiling, steaming, or pit-roasting them
and they are eaten fresh or dried. Because digging the roots destroys
the entire plant, care should be taken to propagate and harvest the
plants in ways to maintain populations.

*Wildlife*: The gray-crowned rosy finch (*Leucosticte tephrocotis*)
feeds on the seeds of *Lewisia* spp.

#### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status and wetland indicator values.

#### Description

*General*: Purslane Family (Portulacaceae). The handsome, flowers range
from white to pink with 10-19 petals and multiple stamens (40-47) and
6-8 sepals. The petals are 2-2.5 cm. long. Each plant has many stems,
1-3 cm. long, each with a solitary flower. The flowers are up to 4 cm
across and they close at night and reopen with the morning sun. The
inflorescence disjoints readily at the middle of the stem on drying. The
caudex is short. The seed vessel is an ellipsoid capsule, 5-6 mm. long
that encloses dark, shiny seeds. The roots are fleshy and radiating. The
many succulent, linear leaves form a rosette and usually wither by
flowering time.

#### Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS Web site. This perennial herbaceous plant is found
at a wide elevational range from 60 to 3000 m. 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. It
is found in the San Jacinto Mountains and the Transverse Ranges in
southern California, the Coast Ranges of California from Mt. Pinos to
Mt. Diablo and Lake County, the Klamath Mountains, in the eastern
Cascade Ranges of Oregon and Washington, north to British Columbia and
east to Montana, Colorado and Arizona.

#### Establishment

This is a difficult plant to grow. This plant should not be started from
the roots, as digging them in the wilds kills the plant. Start the plant
from seed in early October. After collecting or buying the seeds, place
them in a paper bag until planting time. Place the seed on top of the
soil in 4 to 6-inch pots. Sprinkle a light layer of soil over the seeds
and place one-quarter inch gravel on top of the soil to hold the seeds
in place. Give the pots no water. Let the rains water the pots. Place
the containers outside in full sun and protect them from wildlife. The
seeds will germinate in late winter or early spring.

In May when the leaves turn yellow, stop watering and put the pots in
the hottest spot you have until fall when the rains come. Bitter root
requires hot, dry summer baking. Repeat this cycle over two years.
During the summer or fall of the third year, when the plants are
dormant, out-plant the plants in full sun and in well-drained soil.
Crown the plants at the soil surface. Plant each plant 4-6 inches apart.
Mark the spot where you plant bitter root and give the plants no water.
Let the rains come. Protect the plants from deer and other wildlife.

#### Management

Weed periodically around the plants, as they need full sun.

#### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

LERE7 is available at selected native plant nurseries within its range.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

#### References

Dempster, L.T. 1993. *Lewisia*. pp. 900-903, IN: *The Jepson manual:
Higher plants of California*. J.C. Hickman (ed.). University of
California Press, Berkeley, California.

Elliott, R. 1978. *Lewisias*. Alpine Garden Society.

Fowler, C.S. 1986. *Subsistence*. pp. 64-97 IN *Handbook of North
American Indians Vol. 11 Great Basin*. Warren L. D\'azevedo \[Ed.\].
Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.

Hitchcock, C.L. & A. Cronquist 1973. *Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An
illustrated manual*. University of Washington Press, Seattle,
Washington.

Kuhnlein, H.V. & N.J. Turner 1991. *Traditional plant foods of Canadian
indigenous peoples: Nutrition, botany and use*. Gordon and Breach
Science Publishers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Martin, A.C., H.S. Zim, & A.L. Nelson 1951. *American wildlife and
plants: A guide to wildlife food habits*. Dover Publications, Inc., New
York, New York.

#### Prepared By & Species Coordinators: 

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Plant Sciences Department, University of California, Davis,
California

*Wayne Roderick*

Former Director of the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley,
California

Edited: 05dec00 jsp; 21may03 ahv; 060802 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
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