Publication: Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1: 268. 1897.

Origin: Native

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: FNA4: "The circumscription and diagnosis of Lewisia pygmaea is problematic because of morphologic variability, intermediacy, and/or hybridization with L. nevadensis (see L. T. Dempster 1990). In the range of typical forms of L. nevadensis (see discussion under 11. L. nevadensis), one or more forms of L. pygmaea will also occur, but at higher elevations. Segregates of L. pygmaea recognized elsewhere as species include L. glandulosa, which occurs in rocky substrates above 3000 m in the central and southern Sierra Nevada and is characterized by elongate, sinuous taproots (L. T. Dempster 1990); and L. sierrae, which occurs in moist flats above 2400 m in the central Sierra Nevada and includes diminutive plants with irregularly eglandular-toothed (occasionally entire) sepals (B. Mathew 1989b). Dempster postulated that the variable and widely distributed L. pygmaea represents a hybrid species derived from L. nevadensis and L. glandulosa."

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Last updated 2/28/2024 by David Giblin.