Luetkea is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Rosaceae. One species is accepted. Luetkea pectinata (partridgefoot or luetkea) is a mat-forming semi-shrub. It is endemic to the cold portions of western North America occurring in subarctic Alaska, Yukon, western Northwest Territories, and subalpine to alpine regions of British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, northern California and western Montana.

Luetkea
Luetkea pectinata in Mount Rainier National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Amygdaloideae
Tribe: Spiraeeae
Genus: Luetkea
Bong.
Species:
L. pectinata
Binomial name
Luetkea pectinata
Synonyms

Saxifraga pectinata Pursh

The inflorescence of L. pectinata is a dense and erect terminal cluster 10 to 150 mm high with several to many short-stalked flowers. The leaves are 7 to 20 mm long and two or three times three-dissected. The last segments are linear or lanceolate. The fruit is a follicle with several seeds. [1]

Partridge-foot is the only member of the genus Luetkea, which commemorates Count Luetke, a Russian captain and explorer of the early 1800s who mapped the coastline of Alaska.[2]

References

edit

Footnotes

edit
  1. ^ "Luetkea pectinata". WTU Herbarium Image Collection. Burke Museum, University of Washington. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  2. ^ "Plant of the week Partridge-foot". United States Forest Service. Retrieved 2016-08-07.

General references

edit