Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva)
U.S. Forest Service
Rangeland Management
Botany Program
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 1103
Washington DC 20250-1103
By Andrew Kratz, USDA Forest Service
Bitterroot is widespread in the western United States, ranging from Washington and California eastward to Montana (where it is the state flower), Colorado, and Arizona. This ephemeral perennial plant grows on well-drained gravelly soils in dry shrublands, often dominated by sagebrush, but also in piñon-juniper woodlands, oak woods, and ponderosa pine or Douglas-fir forests. It can be found at elevations from 2,500 feet in California to over 10,000 feet in Utah. Early in spring, the succulent, fingerlike leaves elongate. Later, normally after the leaves have withered, deep pink to rose (or sometimes white) flowers emerge to present a striking sight: beautiful wildflowers scattered across what otherwise may appear to be bare gravel, as if they had been dropped on the ground. The flowers are up to 2 inches across.
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