About Lewisia leeana (Porter) B.L.Rob.
Lewisia leeana (orthographic variant L. leana), with the scientific name Lewisia leeana (Porter) B.L.Rob., is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae, commonly known as quill-leaf lewisia. It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in the mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Ranges. This is a perennial herb that grows from a narrow, woody taproot connected to one or more caudices. It forms a basal rosette of many fleshy leaves that range from flat to cylindrical with blunt tips, and grow up to 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long. The inflorescence holds many flowers on erect, branching stems that reach up to approximately 24 centimeters (9.4 inches) tall. Each flower has 5 to 8 white, pink, or purplish petals, each measuring about half a centimeter long. This plant is named for Lambert Wilmer Lee, who collected it in the Siskiyou Mountains just south of the Oregon border in 1876. It commonly hybridizes with Lewisia cotyledon in the wild, producing the hybrid Lewisia x whiteae.
