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Claytonia virginica
Also called Narrow Leaved Spring Beauty, Virginia Spring Beauty, Eastern Spring Beauty, Purslane, Eastern Springbeauty, Fairy Spud, Springbeauty
Virginia springbeauty is a small, low-growing spring wildflower native to eastern North America, grown from a tuberous root. It thrives in cool, moist woodland conditions and is best left to naturalize under deciduous trees.
Claytonia virginica, the Virginia springbeauty, eastern spring beauty, grass-flower narrowleaf springbeauty or fairy spud, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Montiaceae. Its native range is eastern North America. Its scientific name honors Colonial Virginian botanist John Clayton (1694–1773).
Springbeauty is found in the Eastern temperate deciduous forest of North America. It is noted for its abundance throughout many parts of its range, especially in forests. The plant can be found throughout many different habitat types including lawns, city parks, forests, roadsides, wetlands, bluffs, and ravines.
This plant has been used medicinally by the Iroquois, who would give a cold infusion or decoction of the powdered roots to children suffering from convulsions. They would also eat the raw roots believing that they permanently prevented conception. They would also eat the roots as food, as would the Algonquin people, who cooked them like potatoes. The bulbs are rich in starch. When they are cooked, the taste has been described to be similar to chestnuts, while when raw, it has been said to taste like radishes. The roots are rich in vitamin A and C.
Lanceleaf springbeauty · Miner's lettuce · Siberian springbeauty · Purslanes
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Claytonia virginica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
