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Lewisia brachycalyx; photograph (c) James Fowler, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) James Fowler, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-28

Lewisia brachycalyx Engelm. ex A.Gray

Short-sepal lewisia; Showy lewisia; Short-sepal bitter-root; Short-sepaled lewisia

Montiaceae · Arizona, California +2

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Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Grant Chovil, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Grant Chovil, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Grant Chovil, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Darrin Gobble, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Darrin Gobble, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph (c) Darrin Gobble, some rights reserved (CC BY) 48 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
-3.9°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
600mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–54DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes December to March and July to September, with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Lewisia brachycalyx is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae, known by the common name short-sepal bitter-root or shortsepal lewisia. It is native to the mountains of the southwestern United States and Baja California, where it grows in moist habitat such as meadows.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lewisia brachycalyx", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (444 mm of 586 mm) falls in December to March and July to September, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February, March, April and January, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and June to September.

Rain

586 mm in the median year at the habitat, 444 mm of it December to March and July to September. Wettest month August at 81 mm, driest month June at 10 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 406 mm to 669 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 600 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 586 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 54 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -3.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -6.1 °C to -0.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is -3.9 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 37 to 51% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Lewisia brachycalyx through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -3.9 °C; 586 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 19–54RH 37–51%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 101 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 4–128 / 6–1312 / 10–1516 / 14–2022 / 19–2527 / 25–3029 / 27–3228 / 25–3025 / 22–2819 / 16–2212 / 10–167 / 4–11
Night °C-4 / -6–-1-3 / -5–0-1 / -3–22 / 0–57 / 5–1012 / 10–1415 / 13–1815 / 13–1711 / 10–146 / 4–80 / -2–3-4 / -6–-1
Rain mm67 / 43–7760 / 48–7462 / 48–7628 / 22–3917 / 11–2010 / 5–1464 / 24–8781 / 32–11051 / 18–6043 / 29–4744 / 29–5259 / 38–68
DLI22 / 19–2328 / 25–2937 / 35–3846 / 45–4751 / 50–5254 / 53–5546 / 46–5141 / 41–4638 / 37–4131 / 29–3324 / 21–2519 / 17–21
RH %51 / 46–5351 / 47–5348 / 46–5044 / 41–4640 / 37–4237 / 35–3846 / 39–4749 / 42–5146 / 41–4746 / 42–4748 / 43–5050 / 44–53

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1251 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -17.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -11.0 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 101 grid cells holding the 191 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1115:1262 (34.225, -116.875). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 101 distinct grid cells holding 191 of the 191 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1115:1262 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-116.875, lapse-corrected +1251 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2234 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, California, Utah, Mexico Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker34.41, -111.49 · in the densest population, 137 records (52% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 263 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 191 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 106 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 72 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 263 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Lewisia brachycalyx, photograph 1did not loadLewisia brachycalyx, photograph 2did not loadLewisia brachycalyx, photograph 3did not loadLewisia brachycalyx, photograph 4did not loadLewisia brachycalyx, photograph 5did not loadLewisia brachycalyx, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Grant Chovil, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Darrin Gobble, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Phlox woodhousei Phlox woodhousei Star phlox Photo: CC0, Kathy FultonCirsium arizonicum Cirsium arizonicum Arizona thistle Photo: CC BY, Parker James Lloyd Potentilla multifoliolata Rosaceae Penstemon linarioides Penstemon linarioides Siler's penstemon Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsEuphorbia lurida Euphorbia lurida San Francisco Mountain spurge Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroAgeratina herbacea Ageratina herbacea Desert ageratina Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts

Other Lewisia 11 in the reference

Lewisia cantelovii Lewisia cantelovii Cantelow's lewisia Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerLewisia columbiana Lewisia columbiana Columbia lewisia Photo: CC0, author not statedLewisia cotyledon Lewisia cotyledon Siskiyou lewisia Photo: CC BY, Arvel HernandezLewisia kelloggii Lewisia kelloggii Kellogg's lewisia Photo: CC0, author not statedLewisia leeana Lewisia leeana Quill-leaf lewisia Photo: CC0, author not statedLewisia longipetala Lewisia longipetala Long-petaled lewisia Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonLewisia nevadensis Lewisia nevadensis Nevada bitter-root Photo: CC BY, Ken-ichi UedaLewisia oppositifolia Lewisia oppositifolia Opposite-leaved lewisia Photo: CC BY, Dee Shea HimesLewisia pygmaea Lewisia pygmaea Alpine bitterroot Photo: CC BY, winklepuffLewisia rediviva Lewisia rediviva Bitter-root Photo: CC0, author not statedLewisia stebbinsii Lewisia stebbinsii Stebbins lewisia Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van Loon

Names & registers

Also known as Lewisia brachycarpa; Oreobroma brachycalyx. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Montiaceae
Described by
Engelm. ex A.Gray
Native to
Arizona, California, Utah +1
Wild records
263 in range · 106 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-116.875, lapse-corrected +1251 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1251 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Lewisia brachycalyx Engelm. ex A.Gray (the item's: IPNI 698886-1, POWO 139307-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 26 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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