Bitterroot
Photo: Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0
The bitterroot is perhaps the most celebrated botanical discovery of the expedition. Lewis collected it on July 1, 1806, at Travelers’ Rest near the Bitterroot River in Missoula County, Montana. Botanist Frederick Pursh established the genus Lewisia in Lewis’s honor, and the species name “rediviva” (revived) refers to the fact that Pursh was able to grow the dried specimen three years after collection. The bitterroot is now the state flower of Montana and gives its name to the Bitterroot Mountains and Bitterroot Valley.
Journal Excerpt
Lewis, August 22, 1805: "the Indians eat a root which they call quamash… there is also another root which they call spatlum which has a very bitter flavour, a native of the high prairies and drier situations."
Where it’s being seen today
8 research-grade iNaturalist observations between 2022–2025. Most recent: 2025-06-09. Sourced from Terrain360 trail captures, cached locally.
Journal References
15 journal entries mention Bitterroot
