Plant of the Week
Spring Beauty
Latin: Claytonia virginica
Signs of the approaching spring are everywhere. The crocus are in bloom, the
forsythia is budding, a pair of creepers is busily building their nest inside my
fence, and I’ve finally gotten around to raking up the remaining oak leaves from
the flower beds. Under the leaves, I find the narrow, maroon leaves of Spring
Beauty (Claytonia virginica) reaching for the sun.
Our affection for these first spring flowers is out of proportion to their
size. Spring beauty is a wee plant, with narrow, strap-shaped, slightly
succulent leaves only 5 inches long. The foliage blends inconspicuously with
blades of springtime grass.
The leaves and flowering stems arise from a peanut-sized corms that are 2 to
3 inches below the soil surface. The larger corms give rise to several flowering
stems. Flowering size corms are produced in two years from seed.
Spring beauty flowers are about the size of a dime with five equal-sized
petals that spread wide as the sun warms them. From a distance, the flowers
appear white, but on closer inspection you will notice that each petal is
suffused with a delicate network of pastel pink veins.
The flowers are produced in an open raceme that reaches 8 to 10 inches long
and carries fifteen or so flowers. After flowering, a small capsule forms which
contains numerous, tiny black seeds. Spring beauty belongs to the Portulaca
family and is a close relative of moss rose of the flower garden and purslane,
the rank weed of farmer’s fields.
This diminutive native wildflower is found in sunny places throughout the
eastern states, including Arkansas. Lawn fanatics consider it a weed, but
gardeners see it as a welcome addition to the early spring flora, even if it has
the audacity to grow in the middle of a barren patch of bermudagrass.
The plant is named for John Clayton (1686-1773), an Englishman who immigrated
to Virginia in the early 1700's and became part of the elite core of 18th
century naturalists. He became interested in plants and sent material back to
England before the more famous John Bartram began shipping boxes of American
plants abroad. He became such a part of the inner circle that Benjamin Franklin
granted him free mail privileges for shipping his plants and letters.
One of his early efforts was to develop a list of native Virginia plants,
which he shared with his friends in England. This in turn was shared with John
Fredrik Gronovius of Holland, who was a financial backer of Linnaeus. Gronovius,
working closely with Linnaeus, classified Clayton’s plant specimens and
published them as the two-volume Flora Virginica which appeared in 1739
and 1743. It became the main botanical reference on American plants for at least
half a century.
The Flora became the first book of American plants to be published
using the new Linnaean system of classification and naming. To commemorate
Clayton for his contributions, Linnaeus named the spring beauty in his honor.
The Arkansas Native Plant Society has named its publication Claytonia in
honor of this early American naturalist.
In the garden, spring beauty is easily lost because it is so small. Like many
of the small springtime wildflowers, bunching them together makes for a more
effective show. I like to crowd mine next to the trunk of a tree or in a sunny
part of the rock garden.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
March 5, 2004
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