Miner's Lettuce

Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is native to the western mountains and coastal regions of North America with a range stretching from southern Alaska to Central America.  It is common in the spring, preferring cool, damp conditions.  After the first spring rains Miner's Lettuce will begin to appear in sunlit area, drying up as the spring rainy season ends.  The leaves turn a deep red as they dry out.

Photo taken 5/4/13 in Yosemite National Park

As a seedling the cotyledons are bright green, succulent, long and narrow.  The first true leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant.  As the plant matures numerous erect to spreading, slender stems branch from the base and reach up to 8 inches in length.  

Flowers bloom from February through May.  The small pink or white flowers have 5 petals, 1/8-1/2 inches long.  The flowers are grouped 5-40 on slender down curved stalks.  The flower stalk appears to grow through a circular cupcake structure (bract) that looks like a leaf and surrounds the entire stem.  

The common name refers to the plant's use by California gold miners who ate it as a leaf vegetable to prevent scurvy.  The leaves can be eaten raw in salads or boiled like spinach which it resembles in taste.  Unfortunately the plant occasionally accumulates soluble oxalates, which can be toxic when ingested.

Other common names for Miner's Lettuce are Indian Lettuce, Streambank Spring Beauty, and Winter Purslane.

Photo taken 4/13/14 at  Hood River, OR.

Greenleaf Five Eyes

Greenleaf Five Eyes, Chamaesaracha coronopus,  is an unobtrusive little native flower that grows in deserts and dry sandy soil in the uplands of the western part of the US.  A pale, yellowish green, this flower appears in the late spring and blooms all summer.  In the fall the flowers are followed by yellow seed pods that are edible, but without much flavor.

The leaves are green, of a linear, narrowly elliptic shape, 1/2 to 3 inches long. Covered in fine white hairs, the leaves alternate along the stem.  The plant sprawls along the ground, rarely growing to a height greater than 10 inches.

The flowers are flat, 3/4 to 1 inch wide, and have fused sepals and petals with a raised white spot at each petal base and 5 stamens.

The Greenleaf Five Eyes is a member of the Nightshade family and is also known as Small Groundcherry and Green False Nightshade.

Greenleaf Five Eyes.  Photo taken at the Aztec Ruins National Monument in 

Aztec, New Mexico, September, 2013.

Common Snowberry

My last flower was from over 10,000 feet in elevation.  I thought that this week I'd bring it a little further down, closer to sea level.  This week's pick is the common Snowberry.  

The snowberry, Symphoricarpos, is a member of the honeysuckle family.  Also known as waxberry or ghost berry, it is usually recognized by the closely packed greenish-white to pink berries it produces.  Native to North America, this shrub grows to 3-5 feet and spreads out to 4-6 feet wide.  Leaves are typically 1.5 inches long and elliptic to oval in shape, thin and light green on the upper surface and paler below.

The flowers appear in the spring to mid summer in small dense clusters at the ends of the branches.  They are pinkish to white, only around 3/16" long, and bell-shaped.  

The Snowberry is attractive to bees and butterflies during blooming and the berries provide a winter feast for the birds.  (Tacoma, WA, May, 2014)

The Snowberry has been listed as threatened in Maryland and endangered in Kentucky.  

(Tacoma, WA, May, 2014)