PORTULACACEAE 



PURSLANE FAMILY 



SPRING BEAUTY 



Claytonia vlrainica L. 



The Spring Beauty is a dainty maiden commonly and usually 

 abundantly found in moist woods from Nova Scotia to Sas- 

 katchewan and south to Georgia and Texas. Blooming in March, 

 April and May, she 

 appears indifferent to <c^. 



cold winds and frosty "^ 



nights, but nevertheless 

 she loves the sun and re- 

 fuses to open her flowers 

 if it is not shining. ' She 

 faces the sun as it rises 

 and gradually turns her 

 flowers so as still to face it as it sets. 

 Should it disappear behind a cloud 

 she immediately sulks and closes her 

 flowers until it reappears. Or, if her 

 flowers are picked, they close. 



The rather weak stem, light 

 green often stained with red, is 6-12 

 inches long. It rises from a deep 

 perennial tuber and bears 2 opposite, 

 somewhat fleshy leaves and often i 

 or more slightly longer basal leaves. 



The flowers are borne in a some- 

 what one-sided loose terminal raceme that becomes i^-S inches 

 long. They have 2 green sepals and 5 petals, white or pink with 

 darker pink veins. The stamens are white with pink anthers and 

 are attached to the bases of the petals. They mature before the 

 pistil and after they have discharged their pollen bend outward 

 toward the petals; then the 3 stigmas become ready to receive 

 pollen from some other flower. The fruit is a dry capsule con- 

 taining 3-6 seeds. 



The Broad-leaved Spring Beauty, Claytotiia caroliniana Michx., 

 is much like the first species in appearance, growth habits and range, 

 except that the flowers are smaller and fewer and the leaves are 

 spatulate-oblong or oval-lanceolate and about halt as long. Some- 

 times the plant is more nearly erect. It is a rarity in Illinois. 



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