IN the early spring, long before the willows and birches have brought forth their 

 catkins, but contemporarily with Erigenia and Anemone, the beautiful flowers of Clay- 

 tonia greet us when wandering through the woods and glades; "Spring-beauty" is the 

 popular name of this plant. All along the Pacific coast, from Alaska to California, Clay- 

 tonia abounds in forests, about springs and along streams. In the Rocky Mountains, 

 in the Aspen-zone, in the dark, shady swamps beneath the alders, where the beaver 

 has its home, the dainty, little Claytonia Chamissonis covers the black soil with its sno- 

 white flowers. And on the lofty summits of these mountains, amidst the bowlderfields, 

 Claytonia megarrhiza thrives and adorns the rocks with its beautiful flowers and rich 

 verdure. Truly alpine as it is Claytonia megarrhiza may have witnessed the epoch, known 

 as the glacial, when arctic and alpine flowers met: when Dryas, Cassiope, the polar wil- 

 lows, the birches, the arctic Saxifragas, Silene, Diapensia and Rhodiola wero driven 

 south, and sought refugo on these peaks; some to remain and persist, others to succumb. 



Westward to the mountains of Altai, famous as being the home of so many arctic 

 f)lant8, we find Claytonia represented by several species. Finally, and so very remote 

 from its natural boundaries, Claytonia appears in Australia and New Zealand with a 

 few species, truly endemic. In recent time there is no species of Claytonia in the arctic 

 region, and the genus is evidently of North American origin, unloss the East-Asiatic 

 element: Cl. tuberosa, arctica and sarmentosa be of arctic origin. 



By no means uniform in stnicture Claytonia, nevertheless, has preserved soveral 

 characteristics of its own wherever it has spread. From the lowlands of the warm tem- 

 perate zone to the alpine regions, and to near the arctic circle the genus shows unmis- 

 takebly the same principal features in respect to the floral structure, while the vege- 

 tative equipment is quite distinct; annual or perennial as the species may be, they always 

 are readily recognized as being members of the genus. In considering the faet that Clay- 

 tonia does not contain more than about thirty specit ^urfjrising to ii'ii'' that 

 no Icss than ftve, very distinct, sections are necessary to coiabme these with oach olher 

 in a systematir ninnncr: however the distinctions depond nminly <»n pnn-ly vegetative 

 charactera. 



To Asa Gray') w. .n. indebted for the first and most logicai outlining of the genus, 



') Proceed. American Acad. Boston 1887, p. 278. 



1 



