Lewisia triphylla

Three-leaved lewisia

Family: Montiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Three-leaved lewisia is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in moist sandy or gravelly slopes, grassy meadows, and open conifer forest at elevations of 1,300 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers with purple veins, 4 to 7 millimeters long, in delicate clusters. Growing with slender stems 2 to 7 centimeters tall, it emerges from a spheric tuberous root with many fine rootlets. Its cauline leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 to 5, linear or thread-like, 1 to 6 centimeters long with obtuse tips. The tiny fruits are 3 to 4 millimeters long, containing 8 to 25 seeds each just 1 millimeter in size.

Habitat: Moist sandy or gravelly slopes, grassy meadows, open conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1300-3400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SN, Wrn

California counties: Tulare, Fresno, Mono, Madera, Alpine, Calaveras, El Dorado, Humboldt, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Tuolumne, Trinity, Amador, Modoc, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Lassen, Lake, Del Norte

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