Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Lewisia longipetala; photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-08-26

Lewisia longipetala (Piper) S.Clay

Long-petaled lewisia; Truckee lewisia

Montiaceae · California

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Lewisia longipetala (Piper) S.Clay: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Piper) Clay.

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lewisia longipetala, photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) 23 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-16.8°C
Record low -26.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,792mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
14–53DLI
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 November to March, 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.

From few records: 6 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Lewisia longipetala is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names long-petalled lewisia and Truckee lewisia. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from less than 20 locations in areas not far from Lake Tahoe. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates in moist areas in rocky habitat, such as talus that retains patches of snow year-round. Most specimens grow on north-facing slopes with little surrounding vegetation. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lewisia longipetala", 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 (1,393 mm of 1,802 mm) falls in November to March, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February, March, April, December 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: May to September.

Rain

1,802 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,393 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 328 mm, driest month July at 12 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,762 mm to 1,890 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,792 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,802 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: 14 to 53 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -16.8 °C, the absolute minimum -26.2 °C, 10,117 frost nights in 44 years, 229.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -7.9 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range -8.9 °C to -7.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -16.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 41 to 57% 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +792 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 6 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Lewisia longipetala through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low -7.9 °C; 1,802 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-26.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 14–53RH 41–57%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C1 / -1–11 / 0–23 / 2–46 / 5–712 / 11–1318 / 17–1923 / 22–2423 / 21–2319 / 18–1912 / 11–135 / 4–50 / -1–1
Night °C-8 / -9–-7-8 / -9–-7-6 / -7–-6-5 / -6–-4-1 / -2–04 / 3–58 / 7–99 / 7–96 / 4–61 / -1–1-5 / -6–-4-8 / -9–-7
Rain mm304 / 302–318273 / 265–292248 / 239–260123 / 117–12977 / 71–8333 / 32–3712 / 11–1317 / 16–1841 / 39–45106 / 101–112240 / 235–255328 / 310–348
DLI16 / 15–1622 / 21–2232 / 31–3241 / 41–4147 / 47–4852 / 52–5353 / 53–5348 / 48–4839 / 39–3928 / 28–2818 / 18–1814 / 13–14
RH %54 / 53–5557 / 56–5857 / 56–5856 / 55–5651 / 51–5246 / 45–4641 / 40–4141 / 40–4244 / 43–4548 / 48–4953 / 52–5454 / 53–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 6 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 1012:1192 (39.375, -120.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -26.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -16.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.0 °C. 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 4 distinct grid cells holding 6 of the 6 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1012:1192 (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 39.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +792 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2373 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.
NativeCalifornia · 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 marker38.899, -120.061 · in the densest population, 14 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “subalpine or subarctic” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 14 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 6 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 3 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 14 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 8 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 14 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 longipetala, photograph 1did not loadLewisia longipetala, photograph 2did not loadLewisia longipetala, photograph 3did not loadLewisia longipetala, photograph 4did not loadLewisia longipetala, photograph 5did not loadLewisia longipetala, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

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

Ligusticum grayi Ligusticum grayi Gray's licorice-root Photo: CC BY, Rebecca JohnsonKoenigia davisiae Koenigia davisiae Davis's Knotweed Photo: CC BY, harriiErythranthe erubescens Erythranthe erubescens Blushing Monkeyflower Photo: CC BY, James FowlerAllium validum Allium validum Pacific onion Photo: CC BY, Garth HarwoodEriogonum lobbii Eriogonum lobbii Lobb's buckwheat Photo: CC BY, harriiPhlox diffusa Phlox diffusa Spreading phlox Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Lewisia 11 in the reference

Lewisia brachycalyx Lewisia brachycalyx Short-sepal lewisia Photo: CC BY, James FowlerLewisia 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 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 Calandrinia longipetala; Lewisia pygmaea subsp. longipetala; Oreobroma longipetala. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Montiaceae
Described by
(Piper) S.Clay
Native to
California
Wild records
14 in range · 3 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5384249 is Lewisia longipetala (Piper) Clay; the page links Kew's Lewisia longipetala (Piper) S.Clay, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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 39.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +792 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…