Claytonia virginica (Virginia spring-beauty)

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Claytonia virginica L.

Virginia spring-beauty

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Portulacaceae	The purslane family, including mostly succulent plants such as portulaca
Genus	Claytonia	Named for John Clayton, a Virginia court clerk and plant collector who amassed one of the most important botanical sample collections known
Species	virginica	“From Virginia”

About plant names...

Virginia spring beauty is native to North America.

Identification: Plants are a mere 3-9" (7.6-22 cm) tall, poking hopefully out of the forest litter in the spring. Leaves are narrow and grasslike in shape, technically linear to lanceolate. They have more of a leathery texture, but at a size of about 1½" (3.8 cm) × ¼" (6.3 mm), they are easy to miss. Stems support a few flowers, each about ½" (1.3 cm) around, drooping when the flowers are closed. Each white flower has five rounded petals, and beautiful pink veins, though sometimes the veins are very faint. Blooms appear in April.

Edibility: The tubers, roots that resemble small potatoes, are up to 8" (20 cm) in diameter. Their flavor is variously described as nutty, radish-like when raw, or like a potato and a chestnut when cooked (see Plants for a Future).

Online References:

Illinois Wildflowers

Missouriplants.com

Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

The USDA Plants Database

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

3/19/2012 · Gunpowder Falls State Park, Cockeysville, Maryland
≈ 3½ × 3" (8.6 × 7.9 cm) ID is uncertain

4/6/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Sparks, Maryland
≈ 4½ × 4½" (11 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

4/8/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Monkton Rd, Sparks, Maryland
≈ 4 × 3" (9.9 × 8.1 cm) ID is uncertain

Claytonia virginica description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

4/6/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Sparks, Maryland
≈ 4 × 4½" (10 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

(Foliage is from other plants) · 4/6/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Sparks, Maryland
≈ 6 × 6" (14 × 14 cm) ID is uncertain

5/16/2014 · Acton Arboretum, Action, Massachusetts
≈ 3 × 3½" (8.2 × 9.6 cm)

4/6/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Sparks, Maryland
≈ 2½ × 2" (6.8 × 5.7 cm) ID is uncertain

5/16/2014 · Acton Arboretum, Action, Massachusetts
≈ 4½ × 6" (11 × 15 cm)

4/24/2021 · Mt. Willard Trail, Harts Location, New Hampshire · By Heather A. Kent

Range: Zones 3-8:

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