''Philadelphus lewisii,'' the Lewis' mock-orange, mock-orange, Gordon's mockorange, wild mockorange, Indian arrowwood, or syringa, is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

native to western North America, and is the

state flower This is a list of U.S. state, federal district, and territory flowers. See also *List of U.S. state trees * Lists of U.S. state insignia References External linksList of state flowers {{USStateLists * U.S. state flowers Flowers ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. It was first collected for science by scientist and explorer

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

in 1806 during the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

, and so was named after him.

Description

The perennial shrub is rounded and grows to in height. It sends out long stems which are red when new and fade to gray with age, the bark shredding in small flakes. The oppositely arranged leaves vary in size across individual plants but they are usually oval, long, smooth or serrated along the edges, and light green in color with a rough texture. The flowers are produced in clusters at the ends of long stems, with four white petals up to long and numerous yellow

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. At the height of flowering, the plant is covered in a mass of blossoms. The flowers have a heavy, sweet scent similar to orange blossoms with a hint of pineapple. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a small hard capsule about 1 cm long with woody, pointed wings, containing many brown seeds. Drought will stunt fruit development and prevent the production of viable seeds. The plant is somewhat similar in appearance to

serviceberry ''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a g ...

Distribution and habitat

Lewis' mock-orange occurs from northwestern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, north through the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

to southern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and east to Idaho and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. In the Cascades it occurs from sea level up to , while in the

it grows from . Though it is tolerant of moderate shade, it prefers full sun. It is common in open coniferous forests and on forest edges, and in drier regions of the Northwest it occurs mostly in wetter and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

areas. It is also found in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and

seral A seral community is an intermediate stage found in ecological succession in an ecosystem advancing towards its climax community. In many cases more than one seral stage evolves until climax conditions are attained. A prisere is a collection of se ...

communities. It occurs on well-drained, moist sites, and is tolerant of rocky soil, and it is hardy from

USDA zones A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

3 to 9.

Ecology

The foliage of Lewis' mock orange is of moderate importance as winter forage for

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

in British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana. In Montana, a 1957 study found that it comprised 2% of

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

diets in the winter and a trace in the summer. The seeds are eaten by

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...

and

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

s. It occurs in dense shrub habitats which provide good thermal and security cover for wildlife. ''Philadelphus lewisii'' is able to spread

vegetatively Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...

and from seed. It forms seedbanks in the top of soil.

Fire ecology

The shrub is native to relatively arid regions of the American West which experience frequent

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

, and is therefore quite well adapted to fire. Although mock-orange is typically completely top-killed by fires, it will enthusiastically resprout from

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s and

root crown A root crown, also known as the root collar or root neck, is that part of a root system from which a stem arises. Since roots and stems have quite different vascular The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport ...

s afterward. A 1971 study found that in the next growing season after a fire, mock-orange had already regrown to 50% of its previous diameter and height, and that those plants had an average of 28.9 to 38.0 sprouts per plant postfire compared to just 0.6 to 1.5 before. Lewis' mock orange palatability for

Rocky Mountain elk The Rocky Mountain elk (''Cervus canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of elk found in the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of Western North America. Habitat The winter ranges are most common in open forests and floodplain marshes in the lo ...

is much greater after fire, with 36.3% of twigs browsed compared to only 1.3% on adjacent unburned sites.

Human use

Ethnobotany

Native American tribes used ''P. lewisii'' for numerous purposes. The hard wood was useful for making hunting and fishing tools, snowshoes, pipes, combs, cradles, netting shuttles, and furniture. The leaves and bark, which contain

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

s, were mixed in water for use as a mild soap. The flowers were used in preparing perfumes and teas.

Cultivation

Lewis' mock-orange prefers full sun to partial sun. It is drought-tolerant, will grow in poor soils, and is suitable for

xeriscaping Xeriscaping is the process of Garden design, landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. It is promoted in regions that do not have accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water and has gained accep ...

. It provides a landscape with flashy flowers and a fruity scent. The Waterton Mockorange ''Philadelphus lewisii 'Waterton was hybridized by the Alberta Horticultural Research Station in

Brooks, Alberta Brooks is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Newell. It is located on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and the Canadian Pacific Railway, approximately southeast of Calgary, and northwest of Medicine Hat. Th ...

, Canada. It grows to 4–6 ft. (1.2-1.8 m) in height. It is named for Augustus Griffin, who in 1933 noted that this plant was growing in what is now

Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterto ...

in Canada.

Symbolism

''Philadelphus lewisii'' is the state flower of Idaho. The plant is protected by Idaho state law along with other native wildflowers and shrubs, and it is illegal to collect wild specimens on public property for export, sale, or transport without approval.

References

External links

Idaho Statutes: State Flower

Jepson eFlora: ''Philadelphus lewisii''

Plants of British Columbia: ''Philadelphus lewisii''

University of Michigan, Dearborn: Ethnobotany of ''Philadelphus lewisii''
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7182890 lewisii Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of British Columbia Flora of Idaho Flora of Montana Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Garden plants of North America Symbols of Idaho