''Claytonia exigua'' is a species of wildflower known by the common names serpentine springbeauty and pale claytonia, in the family

Montiaceae Montiaceae are a family of flowering plants, comprising about 14 genera with about 230 known species, ranging from small herbaceous plants to shrubs. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution. The family Montiaceae was newly adopted in the APG ...

. It is native to western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it grows in a number of habitat types, including plant communities on

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

s.Miller, J. M. and K. L. Chambers. 2006. Systematics of Claytonia (Portulacaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 78: 1-234.

Description

''Claytonia exigua'' is a fleshy

annual Annual may refer to: * Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook ** Literary annual * Annual plant * Annual report * Annual giving * Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco * Annuals (b ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

producing a patch of erect or leaning stems up to about 15 centimeters tall. The thick leaves are linear in shape and fingerlike near the base of the plant and crescent to disc-shaped farther up the stem. The plant is hairless and waxy and varies in color from green to pinkish, grayish, or brownish. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

holds several flowers on drooping

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

which turn erect as the plant develops fruit. The flower has five lobed petals each a few millimeters long and in shades of pink, white, or pink-streaked white. The fruit is a capsule less than three millimeters long containing a few tiny seeds.

References

External links

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Flora North America Calflora Database: ''Claytonia exigua'' (Little spring beauty, Serpentine springbeauty)Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Claytonia exigua''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Claytonia exigua''
exigua Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of Idaho Flora of Nevada Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Taxa named by Asa Gray Taxa named by John Torrey Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Caryophyllales-stub