About Luetkea pectinata

Luetkea pectinata, Partridgefoot, is an endemic plant of Western North America, in alpine and subalpine areas, extending from Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, and east into Northwest Territories, Alberta, Idaho, and Montana, as well as South into Washington, Oregon and California. Apparently it is a common plant in BC, in alpine and subalpine zones, but not everyone has the chance to reach these places so I thought a plant portrait would be useful.

The partridge foot, is a ground hugging, evergreen sub-shrub forming extensive mats along rocky slopes, in meadows of moist open coniferous forest at subalpine and alpine level, where the snow cover usually start melting late toward early summer.
It is stoloniferous, reason why in favorable locations it can cover large areas, to an extent hard to imagine, until one sees it. You will also notice in pictures that with the help of stolons, it can easily populate the surface of large boulders, if it finds a thin layer of substrate to grow on, or it will grow in the boulders crevices.
It is also found growing in heathlands associations with Phyllodoce empetrifolia and Cassiope mertensiana, which is a good hint about the type of substrate it requires (pictures taken in Revelstoke area and Glacier National Park).

Seeds will be offered (in limited quantity) in the fall Seeds List, so take hints for cultivation from this information. We always need to try to emulate the natural growing conditions, especially for species growing at high elevations. It would make for an excellent crevice plant in a moist rockery.

The species was first collected in Sitka, Alaska and the genus Luetkea, with its only species L. pectinata, commemorates the early 1800s German-Russian military man and Arctic explorer with the name of Friedrich Benjamin Graff von Lutke (or Fydor Petrovich Litke), who charted the Alaskan coast in 1827.

The common name Partridge foot, alludes to the fan-shaped leaves which are crowded in tick tufts, and upon a superficial look, one can think it resembles at a Saxifraga. However, the genus belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae, more specifically related with Spiraea). Some sources also call it Alaska Spiraea. Also, the specific epithet ‘pectinata’ alludes to the foliage, meaning ‘scalloped’ in Latin.

The flowers are white-creamy on dense, elongated clusters about 10 cm high, and later capsule-like, aggregate of follicles develop, which take a red color close to maturation; same it happens with the foliage, especially in exposed situations. The late summer/fall red coloration during fruiting enhances its appeal.

The dry follicles will open in late summer to release the fine, linear seeds about 3 mm long.
By the aspect of growing mats, it seems that its main propagation in the wild is happening by stolons.

Propagation: cuttings/detaching rosettes would be the easiest way to go, but we only have the option of growing it from seeds. According with various sources, the seeds will germinate at room temperature, without any need of cold stratification, which is good news. The seeds being very fine, we have to sow superficial and top up the pot with fine gravel or other such substrate to prevent the seeds desiccation. Use a very porous mix by adding perlite to a regular sowing mix, and keep evenly moist.

Another method I mentioned often for fine, small seeds is to enclose the pot in a plastic bag until the germination starts, then use the bag as a sort of coverall until the seedlings gain strength.
And of course, we can use the dome trays that many people found very handy. I never use heating mats for seeds germination, although they are often mentioned in various protocols, so I think they are not really necessary.

You can read detailed propagation protocols for it and other related species (see also Vaccinium membranaceum ;) here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm06232815/page19.htm

The reason this species is rarely seen in cultivation, at least in Canada, is probably due to the difficulty of establishing the seedlings. Probably SW Ontario location is too dry to grow it, but those in up-north regions, BC and Eastern provinces, should have better chances to cultivate this beautiful native wildflower.
We won’t know until we give it a try!