Lewisia, an interesting plant of the portu-laca family, named in honor of Capt. Meriwether Lewis, who collected it while on his early exploring expedition with Clarke. The large, thick, brandling root throws up a cluster of narrowly linear, succulent leaves, from among which arise several short stems, each of which bears a single showy rose-colored flower, over an inch across; the six to eight sepals are petal-like, and with the rather more numerous petals give the flower the appearance of being double. Its season of growth lasts but a few weeks, the leaves entirely disappearing soon after the flowers fade. The roots are remarkably tenacious of life; the specimens brought home by Lewis, though they had been in drying papers for several months, showed some signs of life, and when planted grew readily; on this account Pursh gave it the specific name of rediviva. It is found from the mountains of northern Arizona to those of Oregon, and is one of the many plants used as food by the Indians, who call it spatlum. The root has a dark-colored bark, but when this is removed the interior is white and starchy, and though bitter, even when cooked, it is very nutritious; on account of its bitterness the Canadian voyageurs call it racine amere.

One other species, L. brachy-calyx, is found in Utah and southward.