Read Abut the Purslane Family
PURSLANE FAMILY (Portulacaceae)
Spring Beauty; Claytonia
Claytonia virginica
Flowers--White veined with pink, or all pink, the
veining of
deeper shade, on curving, slender pedicels, several borne in a terminal
loose raceme, the flowers mostly turned one way. Calyx of 2 ovate
sepals; corolla of 5 petals slightly united by their bases; 5 stamens, 1
inserted on base of each petal; the style 3-cleft. Stem: Weak, 6 to
12 in. long, from a deep, tuberous root. Leaves: Opposite above,
linear to lance-shaped, shorter than basal ones, which are 3 to 7 in., long;
breadth variable.
Preferred Habitat--Moist woods, open groves, low meadows.
Flowering Season--March-May.
Distribution--Nova Scotia and far westward, south to Georgia and
Texas.
Very early in the spring a race is run with the hepatica, arbutus,
adder's tongue, bloodroot, squirrel corn, and anemone for the honor of being
the earliest wild flower; and although John Burroughs and Doctor Abbot have
had the exceptional experience of finding the claytonia even before the
hepatica--certainly the earliest spring blossom worthy the name in the
Middle and New England states--of course the rank Skunk Cabbage, whose name
is snobbishly excluded from the list of fair competitors, has quietly opened
dozens of minute florets in its incurved horn before the others have even
started.
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