Bitterroot is a small perennial herb in the family Montiaceae. Its specific epithet rediviva refers to its ability to regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots.
Ivesia callida is a rare species of flowering plant, in the rose family, known by the common name Tahquitz mousetail. It is a small perennial herb which forms matted patches of hanging foliage on cliff faces. The leaves are strips of oval-shaped green leaflets. Each leaf is up to 7 centimeters long and has several pairs of hairy, glandular leaflets. The thin, green, hanging stems grow up to 15 centimeters long and bear an inflorescence of several flowers. Each flower has five hairy, pointed sepals and five round to oval white petals. The center of the flower contains twenty stamens with disc-shaped anthers and several pistils.
Ivesia lycopodioides is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common name clubmoss mousetail, or clubmoss ivesia. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and to regions east of the range in California. It may also be found beyond the state line into Nevada. This is a perennial herb which grows in the crevices of rock ledges in the mountains and in wet high-elevation meadows. It produces a rosette of flat to cylindrical leaves up to 15 centimeters long, each of which is made up of many tiny, lobed leaflets. The stems may grow erect or drooping to 30 centimeters long and each holds an inflorescence of clustered flowers. Each flower has hairy, greenish triangular sepals and much larger oval-shaped petals of bright yellow. In the center of the flower are usually five stamens and several pistils. There are three subspecies.
Juncus capitatus is a species of rush known by the common names dwarf rush and leafybract dwarf rush. It is native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is also an introduced species in parts of North America such as California and the Gulf Coast. It grows in moist areas, such as wet sand, vernal pools, and ditches.
Lewisia brachycalyx is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae, known by the common name short-sepal bitter-root or shortsepal lewisia. It is native to the mountains of the southwestern United States and Baja California, where it grows in moist habitat such as meadows.
Lewisia cantelovii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Cantelow's lewisia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the northeastern mountain ranges from the Klamath Mountains to the northern Sierra Nevada. It grows in rocky, moist mountain habitat. This is a perennial herb growing from a short, thick taproot and caudex unit. It produces a basal rosette of thick, fleshy, blunt-tipped spoon-shaped leaves with serrated edges. The inflorescence is a very slender erect stem up to 45 centimeters tall topped with a spreading panicle of flowers and glandular, toothed bracts. Each flower has 5 to 7 oval petals each one half to one centimeter long. The petals are white or very pale pink with sharp dark pink veins. At the center of the flower are five stamens tipped with dark pink anthers.
Lewisia columbiana, the Columbian lewisia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae. It is native to the western United States and British Columbia, where it grows in rocky mountain habitats.
Lewisia congdonii, known by the common name Congdon's lewisia, is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae.
Lewisia cotyledon is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names Siskiyou lewisia and cliff maids. It is native to southern Oregon and northern California, where it grows in rocky subalpine mountain habitat.
Lewisia disepala is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Yosemite lewisia.
Lewisia kelloggii is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Kellogg's lewisia. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from several sites high in the mountains. It grows in rocky mountain habitat in granite and slate substrates. This is a perennial herb growing from a thick, short taproot and caudex unit. It produces a basal rosette of many thick, leathery, spoon-shaped leaves up to 9 centimeters long. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a very short stalk. The flower has 5 to 13 shiny white or pinkish petals just over a centimeter long. Under the petals are two sepals and two similar bracts lined with spherical resin glands.
Lewisia leeana 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 longipetala is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names long-petalled lewisia and Truckee lewisia. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from less than 20 locations in areas not far from Lake Tahoe. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates in moist areas in rocky habitat, such as talus that retains patches of snow year-round. Most specimens grow on north-facing slopes with little surrounding vegetation. The plant thrives in the snow, growing largest and most densely in areas of high snowpack and becoming easily water-stressed when far away from areas with snow.
Lewisia oppositifolia is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name opposite-leaf lewisia. It is native to the Klamath Mountains of Josephine County, Oregon, and Del Norte County, California, where it is a local serpentine endemic generally found in moist areas. This is a perennial herb growing from a small taproot and caudex unit. It produces a basal rosette of several lance-shaped, blunt-tipped fleshy leaves up to 11 centimeters long. There are sometimes smaller leaves located on the lower stem. The inflorescence is made up of one or more erect stems up to about 20 centimeters long, each bearing 1 to 6 flowers. The flower has 8 to 11 white to pale pink petals with blunt or jagged tips, each between 1 and 2 centimeters long. At the center are several stamens with pale anthers. This plant has a limited distribution and it is threatened by human activity in the area, such as logging.
Lewisia pygmaea is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name alpine lewisia and pygmy bitterroot. It is native to western North America from Alaska and Alberta to California and New Mexico, where it grows in many types of moist, rocky mountain habitat, such as gravel beds and sandy meadows.
Lewisia stebbinsii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Stebbins' lewisia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from less than fifteen sites in the Inner North Coast Ranges of Mendocino and Trinity Counties, mainly in Mendocino National Forest.
Lewisiopsis tweedyi is a flowering plant and sole species in genus Lewisiopsis. The species, formerly known as Cistanthe tweedyi and Lewisia tweedyi, is now classified in the family Montiaceae. The plant is known by the common names Tweedy's pussypaws, Tweedy's lewisia, or Tweedy's bitterroot. It is endemic to western North America in north-central Washington and adjacent British Columbia. It commonly grows on well-drained slopes often on rocky slopes or in rock crevices from low elevation ponderosa pine sites up to the drier part of the Grand Fir zone of the North Cascades. The flowers usually have a coral, apricot, or pink color.
Lomatium ochocense is a rare species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name Ochoco lomatium. It is endemic to Oregon, where it is limited to the Ochoco Mountains of Crook County.
Lewisia maguirei is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Maguire's lewisia, or Maguire's bitterroot. It is endemic to Nevada in the United States, where it is known only from eastern Nye County.
The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations.
