Claytonia perfoliata Totally Explained

Everything about Claytonia Perfoliata totally explained

Claytonia perfoliata (Miner's lettuce, Winter Purslane, Spring Beauty, or Indian lettuce; syn. Montia perfoliata) is a fleshy annual plant native to the western mountain and coastal regions of North America from southernmost Alaska and central British Columbia south to Central America, but most common in California in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin valleys.
   It is a trailing plant, growing to a maximum of 40 cm in length, but mature plants can be as small as 1 cm. The cotyledons are usually bright green (rarely purplish or brownish-green), succulent, long and narrow. The first true leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant, and are 0.5-4 cm long, with an often long petiole (exceptionally up to 20 cm long). The small pink or white flowers have five petals 2-6 mm long; they appear from February to May or June, and are grouped 5-40 together above a pair of leaves that are united together around the stem to appear as one circular leaf. Mature plants have numerous erect to spreading stems that branch from the base.
   It is common in the spring, and it prefers cool, damp conditions. It first appears in sunlit areas after the first heavy rains. Though, the best stands are found in shaded areas, especially in the uplands, into the early summer. As the days get hotter, the leaves turn a deep red color as they dry out.
   There are three ill-defined geographical subspecies:

Claytonia perfoliata subsp. perfoliata: Pacific coastal United States and southwest Canada
Claytonia perfoliata subsp. intermontana: interior western United States
Claytonia perfoliata subsp. mexicana: coastal southern California and Arizona south through Mexico to Guatemala
Claytonia perfoliata subsp. utahensis: recognised as local subspecies in Utah.

Uses

The common name Miner's lettuce is named after the California gold rush miners who ate it to get their vitamin C to prevent scurvy. It can be eaten as a leaf vegetable. Most commonly it's eaten raw in salads, but it isn't quite as delicate as other lettuce. Sometimes it's boiled like spinach, which in fact it resembles in taste.
It is widely naturalized in western Europe, where it was introduced in 1749. Image:Claytonia perfoliata basal leaves 2003-02-04.jpg|Basal leaves are petiolate and cordate. Image:Claytonia perfoliata 2003-05-19.jpg|Cauline leaves are perfoliate. Further Information

Get more info on 'Claytonia Perfoliata'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://claytonia_perfoliata.totallyexplained.com">Claytonia perfoliata Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.