This well-known species exists in many varieties, some with rather lurid colours. All have rosettes of fleshy leaves, and can in time form large mounds, from which many stems emerge, each with many flowers. They are best grown in a position where water cannot reside in the rosettes in winter.

Lewisia cotyledon mixed colour doubles is a cultivated strain, grown from plants with double flowers in a range of colours - pinks and reds and whites, with some more orange or yellow. The double flower characteristic is almost always shown in the seed-raised plants.