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The bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva Pursch
Frederick Traugott Pursh

Frederick Traugott Pursh was a German people-United States botanist. Born in Grossenhain, Saxony, he was educated at Dresden Botanical Gardens, and emigrated to the United States in 1799....
) is a small, low, pink flower with yellow center. It is the state flower of Montana
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
 in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The plant is a low-growing perennial plant
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base. The flower stems are leafless, 1-3 cm tall, bearing at the tip a whorl of 5-6 linear bracts which are 5-10 mm long. A single flower appears on each stem with 6-9 oval shaped sepals.






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The bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva Pursch
Frederick Traugott Pursh

Frederick Traugott Pursh was a German people-United States botanist. Born in Grossenhain, Saxony, he was educated at Dresden Botanical Gardens, and emigrated to the United States in 1799....
) is a small, low, pink flower with yellow center. It is the state flower of Montana
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
 in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The plant is a low-growing perennial plant
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base. The flower stems are leafless, 1-3 cm tall, bearing at the tip a whorl of 5-6 linear bracts which are 5-10 mm long. A single flower appears on each stem with 6-9 oval shaped sepals. They range in color from whitish to deep pink or rose during May and June. The petals (usually about 15) are oblong in shape and are 18-35 mm long in length.

At maturity, the bitterroot produces egg-shaped capsules with 6-20 nearly round seeds.

The plant grows on gravelly to heavy, usually dry soil, in scablands or foothills areas. It is found on sagebrush
Sagebrush

Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby species in the genus Artemisia native to North America:*Artemisia arbuscula ? Little Sagebrush, Low Sagebrush...
 plains to the lower mountains, in western and south central Montana, it is also the state flower of Montana. It ranges in the north from British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
 to southern California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, and on the east side of the Cascade Range
Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California....
 to Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
 and Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
.

The roots were consumed by local tribes such as the Shoshone
Shoshone

The Shoshone are a Native Americans in the United States in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
 and the Flathead Indians
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are the Bitterroot Salish , Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes. The Flatheads lived between the Cascade Mountains and Rocky Mountains....
 as an infrequent delicacy.

The bitterroot was selected to be the Montana
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
 State Flower
List of U.S. state flowers

This is a list of U.S. state flowers:See also*List of U.S. state trees*Lists of U.S. state insigniaReferences *...
 on February 27, 1895. Three major geographic features, the Bitterroot Mountains
Bitterroot Mountains

The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains, is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in the Idaho Panhandle Idaho and Western Montana Montana in the Western United States United States....
 (running north-south and forming the divide between Idaho
Idaho

The State of Idaho is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and Capital is Boise, Idaho....
 and Montana), the Bitterroot Valley
Bitterroot Valley

The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. It extends over 100 miles from remote Horse Creek Pass north to a point near the city of Missoula....
, and the Bitterroot River
Bitterroot River

The Bitterroot River is a tributary of the Clark Fork River in southwestern Montana, USA. It runs for about 75 miles  south-to-north through the Bitterroot Valley, from the Confluence of its West and East forks near Conner to the Clark Fork near Missoula, Montana....
 (which flows south-north, terminating in the Clark Fork
Clark Fork (river)

The Clark Fork is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately 360 mi long. The largest river by volume in Montana, it drains an extensive region of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and northern Idaho in the Drainage basin of the Columbia River, flowing northwest through a long mountain valley and emptying into Lake P...
 river in the city of Missoula
Missoula, Montana

Missoula is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Montana, United States. The population was 57,053 at the United States Census, 2000 and the population of the Missoula Metropolitan Statistical Area was 95,802, making it the second-largest city and metropolitan area in Montana....
), owe the origins of their names to this flower.

The Lemhi Shoshone believed the small red core found in the upper taproot had special powers, notably being able to stop a bear
Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
 attack.

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