[The Figwort Family East of the Cascade Mts.]
Red Besseya, Red Coraldrops

Besseya rubra

The photo above shows the inflorescence of red besseya as seen from grasslands next to Hog Lake east of Sprague, WA..................April 29, 2006.
The photo at right shows red besseya as seen in meadows from Big Summit Meadows, Ochoco National Forest, late May, 1998.
Characteristics:

Red besseya is a perennial from 20 to 60 cm tall. It is softly short-haired (villous-puberulent), especially when young, and may be largely glabrous (non-haired) in older plants. The basal leaves are 4 to 12 cm long, elliptic-ovate to subrotund in shape, and either coarsely toothed or often doubly crenately toothed. The base of most basal leaves is deltoid to subcordate. The stem leaves are increasingly reduced in size up the stem, and they are sessile.

The inflorescence is elongate, at first more compact, and then extending as the flower season proceeds. Petals are either absent, or very much reduced. The sepals as a unit are 3 to 4 lobed,often being unequal in size and shape. The stamen filaments are often dark red and 4 to 6 mm in length.

Habitat:

Red besseya is found on opens slopes and in dry meadows in the lowlands and foothills.

Range:

Red besseya is found wholly east of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, and from central Oregon eastward to western Montana.

The photo above shows the basal cluster of leaves of red besseya as seen from grasslands next to Hog Lake east of Sprague, WA..................April 29, 2006.
Paul Slichter