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Lewisia rediviva

Common name:	Bitter-Root	Family:	Portulacaceae
Author:	Pursh.	Botanical references:	60, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Western N. America - Montana to British Columbia, south to California and Colorado.
Habitat:	Gravelly to heavy, usually dry soils[60]. Rocky dry soils of valleys, or on foothills, stony slopes, ridges and mountain summits to about 2,500 metres[212].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bitter Root [H], Bitterroot [S,FEIS], Oregon Bitter-root [B], Oregon Bitterroot [S,P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	rediviva = coming back to life
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Purslane family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Us(Flathead)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.05m by 0.05m . It is hardy to zone 4 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf from September to July, in flower in June. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Root.

Root - cooked[2, 4, 94, 161]. The root was a staple food of some native North American Indian tribes[257]. It is said to be extremely nutritious, 50 - 80 grams being sufficient to sustain an active person for a day[4, 207]. The root is, however, rather small and tedious to collect in quantity[207]. It is easiest to use when the plant is in flower in the spring, because the outer layer of the root (which is very bitter) slips off easily at this time of the year[85, 95]. Whilst being boiled the roots become soft and swollen and exude a pink mucilaginous substance[183]. The root swells to about 6 times its size and resembles a jelly-like substance[105]. The root has a good taste though a decided bitter flavour develops afterwards[85]. If the root is stored for a year or two the bitterness is somewhat reduced[183]. The root can also be dried, ground into a powder and used as a mush or a thickener in soups etc[212, 257].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Blood purifier Cardiac Galactogogue Poultice.

The root is cardiac and galactogogue[257]. An infusion of the root has been used to increase the milk flow in nursing mothers, to relieve heart pain and the pain of pleurisy and also as a blood purifier[257]. The root has been eaten raw to counteract the effects of poison ivy rash and as a treatment for diabetes[257]. The pounded dry root has been chewed in the treatment of sore throats[257]. A poultice of the raw roots has been applied to sores[257].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a very well-drained gritty humus-rich deep soil in a sunny position[1, 200].
This species is not reliably hardy in Britain. It can withstand consistently very cold weather but does not like alternating periods of mild and cold conditions, nor does it like winter wet[1]. The plant is very susceptible to rotting at the neck in a damp soil[200].
The plant is easy to kill by over-watering but extremely difficult to kill by under-watering. Roots that have been dried and stored for a number of years have been known to come back into growth when moistened[95]. The plant dies down after flowering and re-appears in September. It must be kept dry whilst dormant[129]. It is best grown in a greenhouse or bulb frame[200].
A very ornamental plant[1], it is the state flower of Montana[85, 95].
Very apt to hybridize with other members of this genus[1].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame in a very freely draining soil[129]. Sow stored seed as soon as possible in a cold frame. One months cold stratification should improve germination, though this is still likely to be very slow. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first two winters. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division in March/April. Very difficult.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Illustration from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[FEIS] Data (Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Portulacaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[60] Hitchcock. C. L. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press 1955
A standard flora for Western N. America with lots of information on habitat etc. Five large volumes, it is not for the casual reader.

[85] Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9
A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.

[94] Sweet. M. Common Edible and Useful Plants of the West. Naturegraph Co. 1962 ISBN 0-911010-54-8
Useful wild plants in Western N. America. A pocket guide.

[95] Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976 ISBN 0-486-23310-3
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[129] ? Alpine Garden Society Bulletin. Volume 56. Alpine Garden Society
Excerpts from the periodical. Some details on Corydalis spp.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[212] Craighead. J., Craighead. F. and Davis. R. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers The Riverside Press 1963 ISBN 63-7093
Excellent little pocket guide to the area, covering 590 species and often giving details of their uses.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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