Editing Bitterroot

{{Short description|Plant species in the springbeauty family}}
{{about||the  American comic book series|Bitter Root|the waterway|Bitterroot River}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Lewisia rediviva 9789.JPG
| image_caption = ''Lewisia rediviva'' var. ''rediviva'' in [[Wenas Wildlife Area]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
| status = {{TNCStatus}}
| status_system = TNC
| status_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{Cite NatureServe |date=28 February 2025 |id=2.140239 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' |access-date=31 March 2025}}</ref>
| genus = Lewisia
| species = rediviva
| authority = [[Frederick Traugott Pursh|Pursh]]
| subdivision_ranks = Varieties
| subdivision_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=317390-2 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' Pursh |access-date=29 March 2025}}</ref>
| subdivision = {{Species list
 | L. rediviva var. minor |
 | L. rediviva var. rediviva |
}}
| synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite POWO |id=139340-2 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' var. ''minor'' (Rydb.) Munz |access-date=29 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite POWO |id=77225433-1 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' var. ''rediviva'' |access-date=29 March 2025}}</ref>
| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list
 | Lewisia alba | Kellogg
 | Lewisia minor | Rydb.
 | Lewisia rediviva subsp. minor | (Rydb.) A.H.Holmgren
}}
}}
}}

'''Bitterroot''' (''Lewisia rediviva'') is a small [[perennial plant|perennial]] [[herb]] in the family [[Montiaceae]]. Its [[botanical name|specific epithet]] {{lang|la|[[wikt:redivivus#Latin|rediviva]]}} ("revived, reborn") refers to its ability to regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots.<ref>{{cite book|author= William Curtis |title=The Curtis's botanical magazine |url= https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753002721634#page/n122/mode/2up/search/pursh |year=1801 |page=123|quote=The specific name ''rediviva'' is given by [[Frederick Traugott Pursh|Pursh]] in consequence of the root, long preserved in the [[herbarium]], and apparently dead, having been planted, revived in a garden in Philadelphia.}}</ref>

The genus ''[[Lewisia]]'' was moved in 2009 from the purslane family ([[Portulacaceae]]) with adoption of the [[APG III system]], to the family [[Montiaceae]].

==Description==

[[File:Bitterroot.jpg|thumb|Bitterroot Flower]]
''Lewisia rediviva'' is a low-growing [[perennial plant]] with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base and a low rosette of thick fleshy linear leaves with blunt tips. The leaves are roughly circular in cross section, sometimes somewhat flattened on the adaxial (top) surface. The absence of an adaxial groove on the leaves distinguishes this from other ''[[Lewisia]]'' species with overlapping ranges. The leaves often wither before flowers open.

The very short flower stems are leafless, {{Convert|1|-|3|cm|1|frac=8}} tall, bearing at the tip a whorl of 5–6 linear bracts which are 5–10&nbsp;mm long. A single proportionally huge flower appears on each stem with 5–9 oval-shaped sepals and many petals.<ref name="Klinkenberg2014">{{cite web |date=2014 |editor-last=Klinkenberg |editor-first=Brian |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' |url=http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Lewisia%20rediviva |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113715/http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Lewisia%20rediviva |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=2015-04-23 |website=E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. |publisher=Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver}}</ref> The petals (usually about 15) are oblong in shape and are {{Convert|18|–|35|mm|1|frac=8}} long.<ref name="Klinkenberg2014" /> They range in color from whitish to deep pink or lavender. Flowering occurs from April through July.<ref name="Sullivan2015">{{cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Steven. K. |date=2015 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' |url=http://www.wildflowersearch.com/search?&PlantName=Lewisia+rediviva |access-date=2015-04-23 |website=Wildflower Search}}</ref> At maturity, the bitterroot produces egg-shaped capsules with 6–20 nearly round seeds.<ref name="Klinkenberg2014" />

==Distribution==
The plant is native to western [[North America]] from low to moderate elevations on grassland, open bushland, forest in dry rocky or gravelly soils. Its range extends from southern [[British Columbia]], through [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Oregon]] west of the [[Cascade Range]] to southern [[California]], and east to western [[Montana]], [[Idaho]], [[Wyoming]], northern [[Colorado]] and northern [[Arizona]].<ref name="Sullivan2015" /><ref name="PLANTS">{{cite web |date=2015 |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' |url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LERE7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703214301/http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LERE7 |archive-date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2015-04-23 |website=PLANTS Database |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture; Natural Resources Conservation Service}}</ref><ref name="Klinkenberg2014" /><ref name="WTU Herbarium2015">{{cite web |date=2015 |editor-last=Giblin |editor-first=David |title=''Lewisia rediviva'' |url=http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Lewisia&Species=rediviva |access-date=2015-04-23 |website=WTU Herbarium Image Collection |publisher=Burke Museum, University of Washington}}</ref>

==Uses==
The thick roots come into season in spring<ref name=":0" /> and can survive extremely dry conditions. If collected early enough in the season,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Ronald J.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25708726|title=Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary|publisher=Mountain Press Pub. Co|year=1994|isbn=0-87842-280-3|edition=rev.|location=Missoula, MT|pages=122|language=en|oclc=25708726|orig-year=1992}}</ref> they can be peeled, boiled, and made into a jelly-like food.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Angier|first=Bradford|url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetoedib00angi/page/36/mode/2up|title=Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants|publisher=Stackpole Books|year=1974|isbn=0-8117-0616-8|location=Harrisburg, PA|pages=36|oclc=799792|author-link=Bradford Angier}}</ref>

==History and culture==

French trappers knew the plant as {{lang|fr|racine amère}} (bitter root).<ref name = "bitterrootheaven" /> Native American names include ''spetlum/sp̓eƛ̓m̓'' or ''spetlem'' ("hand-peeled"), ''nakamtcu'' ([[Kutenai language|Ktanxa]]: ''naqam¢u''),<ref>{{Cite web
| title = FirstVoices: Ktunaxa words
| access-date = 2012-07-08
| url = http://www.firstvoices.ca/en/Ktunaxa/word/63b51dec5cf5793e/Bitterroot
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130115131911/http://www.firstvoices.ca/en/Ktunaxa/word/63b51dec5cf5793e/Bitterroot
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = January 15, 2013
}}</ref> and ''mo'ôtáa-heséeo'ôtse'' ([[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]], "black medicine").<ref>[http://www.cdkc.edu/cheyennedictionary/index-english/main.htmm Cheyenne Dictionary]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by Fisher, Leman, Pine, Sanchez.</ref>

The roots were consumed by tribes such as the [[Shoshone]] and the [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation|Flathead Indians]] as an infrequent delicacy. Traditionally, the [[Ktunaxa]] cooked bitterroot with [[grouse]]. For the Ktunaxa, bitterroot is eaten with sugar; other tribes prefer eating it with salt.<ref>{{Cite web
| last = Ashley Casimer
| title = Nutrition: Ktunaxa People and the Traditional Food History
| work = Aqam Community Learning Centre
| access-date = 2012-07-08
| url = http://www.aqam.net/clc/nutrition/articles/traditional_diet.htm
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091112173307/http://www.aqam.net/clc/nutrition/articles/traditional_diet.htm
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2009-11-12
}}</ref> The [[Lemhi Shoshone]] believed the small red core found in the upper taproot had special powers, notably being able to stop a [[bear]] attack.<ref name = "bitterrootheaven" /> [[Plains Indians]] peeled and boiled the root prior to its consumption.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:Bitterroot, Lewisia rediviva var. rediviva.jpg|thumb|''L. rediviva var. rediviva'', Glass Mountain, [[Owens Valley]], California]]
[[File:Lewisia rediviva iNat-153200132.jpg|thumb|Before flowering]]

[[Meriwether Lewis]] ate bitterroot in 1805 and 1806 during the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]]. The specimens he brought back were identified and given their scientific name, ''Lewisia rediviva'', by a German-American botanist, [[Frederick Pursh]].<ref name="bitterrootheaven">
{{Cite web
| title = Trivia &#124; BitterrootHeaven.com
| access-date = 2012-07-08
| url = http://bitterrootheaven.com/trivia.html
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120415155730/http://bitterrootheaven.com/trivia.html
| archive-date = 2012-04-15
}}</ref>
Based on Lewis and Clark's manuscript, Pursh labeled it "spatlum"; this apparently was actually a [[Salishan languages|Salishan]] name for "tobacco".<ref>{{cite book|author=Bureau of American Ethnology|author-link=Bureau of American Ethnology|title=Handbook of American Indians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZAUwZk4vgcC|year=1910|page=624|quote= its supposed name was obtained from Lewis's manuscript by Pursh, who gives it as spatlum (''Spatlum Aboriginorum''). The name, which is Salishan, is here a misapplication, since ''spatlûm'' in the [[Comox language|Comox]] dialect (''spätlûm'' in the Kwantlin) is the name for }}</ref>

The bitterroot was selected as the Montana [[List of U.S. state flowers|state flower]] in 1895.<ref>{{cite book|author=Montana. Dept. of Public Instruction|title=Montana Educational Directory|url=https://archive.org/stream/montanaeducation00mont_5#page/30/mode/1up/search/flower|year=1929|page=30|quote= The Montana state flower, adopted by act of the [[Montana Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]], approved February 27, 1895, is the Bitter Root (''Lewisia rediviva'').}}</ref>

Three major geographic features – the [[Bitterroot Mountains]] (running north–south and forming the divide between [[Idaho]] and Montana), the [[Bitterroot Valley]], and the [[Bitterroot River]] (which flows south–north, terminating in the [[Clark Fork River|Clark Fork river]] in the city of [[Missoula, Montana|Missoula]]) – owe the origins of their names to this flower.<ref name = "bitterrootheaven" /><ref name="Service1909">{{cite book|author=US Forest Service|title=Names of National Forests with Their Origin, Definition, Or Derivation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pas7AQAAMAAJ|year=1909|publisher=Washington|quote= From the plant ''Lewisia rediviva'', which gives name to the Bitter Root mountains and river of Montana and Idaho.}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book
| publisher = [[Salish Kootenai College]], Npustin Press
| isbn = 9780981683416
| last = Johnny Arlee
| title = The Gift of the Bitterroot
| access-date = 2018-01-24
| year = 2008
| url = https://www.lessonsofourland.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Gift-of-the-Bitterroot.pdf
}}
* Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 {{ISBN|0-88192-453-9}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Lewisia rediviva|Lewisia rediviva<br />(bitter root)}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Lewisia rediviva}}
* [http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=4778 Calflora Database: ''Lewisia rediviva'' (Bitter root)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512022205/http://www.cwnp.org/photopgs/ldoc/lerediviva.html Central Washington Native Plant Society]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080705053808/http://www.lewis-clark.org/bitterroot.htm Plants of the Lewis and Clark Expedition]
* [http://www.nps.gov/lecl/naturescience/bitterroot.htm Bitterroot, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail], U.S. Forest Service
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120530121112/http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Environment/CulRes/herbs.htm#Lewisia WSDOT - Ethnobotany - Herbs. ''Lewisia rediviva'' - Bitter-root, Sand Rose, Portulacaceae (Purslane Family)]

{{US state flowers}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4113860}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Lewisia]]
[[Category:Flora of the Northwestern United States]]
[[Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States]]
[[Category:Plants used in Native American cuisine]]
[[Category:Symbols of Montana]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Frederick Traugott Pursh]]
[[Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status]]