Lewisia congdonii

Congdon's lewisia, Congdon's Lewisia

Family: Montiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Congdon's lewisia is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada Mountains on granite and metamorphic outcrops, rock slides, and in chaparral, woodland, and conifer forest at elevations of 500 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pale pink flowers with yellow-green bases and magenta veins, approximately 8 millimeters long with jagged tips, emerging in open clusters of 20 to 100 blooms. Growing with multiple stems 20 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms a distinctive rosette of narrowly oblanceolate to obovate leaves that taper to long, slender petioles. Its leaves are few to many, with acute or obtuse tips, arranged in a compact basal cluster with a few additional cauline leaves. The fruit is small, measuring 3 to 4 millimeters long, containing one to few seeds each about 2 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Granite, metamorphic outcrops, crevices, rock slides, chaparral, woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 500-2800 m

Bioregions: c SN.

California counties: Fresno, Mariposa, Madera

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.