''Claytonia sibirica'', the pink purslane, candy flower, Siberian spring beauty or Siberian miner's lettuce, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

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 ...

, native to the

Commander Islands The Commander Islands, Komandorski Islands, or Komandorskie Islands (russian: Командо́рские острова́, ''Komandorskiye ostrova'') are a series of treeless, sparsely populated Russian islands in the Bering Sea located about ea ...

(including Bering Island) of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, and western North America from the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

and coastal

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

south through

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

, Cascade and

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although th ...

, to a southern limit in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Populations are also known from the

Wallowa Mountains The Wallowa Mountains () are a mountain range located in the Columbia Plateau of northeastern Oregon in the United States. The range runs approximately northwest to southeast in southwestern Wallowa County and eastern Union County between the ...

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast ...

, northern

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 Wyomi ...

, and The Kootenai. A synonym is ''Montia sibirica''. The plant was introduced into the United Kingdom by the 18th century, where it has become very widespread.Dickie, T. W. (1915), ''Robertland'', 10/07/1915. Annals of the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers Society. 1913 - 1919. P. 110. Claytonia sibirica Eglinton

Habitat and description

It is found in moist woods. It is long-lived

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

, biennial, or

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 (band), ...

with

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have s ...

flowers which are

protandrous Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

and self-fertile. The numerous fleshy stems form a rosette and the leaves are linear, lanceolate, or deltate. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are 8–20 mm diameter, with five white, candy-striped, or pink petals; flowering is typically between February and August, but some plants continue to bloom late into autumn.

Invasiveness

The species is now found in most of the UK, especially the west and north. It continues to spread but is not considered invasive. However, it is reported to cause local problems due to its growth timing. The fleshy leaves appear early in the season and then collapse and may suppress the growth of later species.

Uses

Much like ''

Claytonia perfoliata ''Claytonia perfoliata'' ( syn. ''Montia perfoliata''), also known as miner's lettuce, Indian lettuce, winter purslane, or ''palsingat'' (Cahuilla), is a flowering plant in the family Montiaceae. It is an edible, fleshy, herbaceous, annual plant ...

'', the aboveground portion of the plant can be eaten raw or cooked. Some leaves have a poor taste or aftertaste.

The Stewarton flower

An example of the variation found in ''Claytonia sibirica'' is the subspecies known as the Stewarton flower, so named due to its local abundance in that part of North Ayrshire, Scotland, and recorded as such by the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers. In 1915 it was stated to have been in the Stewarton area for over 60 years and was abundant on the Corsehill Burn. As the plant is very adept at reproducing by asexual plantlets, this has maintained the white varieties gene pool around

Stewarton Stewarton ( sco, Stewartoun,
gd, Baile nan Stiùbhar ...

. The pink variety has not been able to predominate here, and only occurs occasionally, unlike most other localities in Scotland. The white variety predominates in Templeton Woods Dundee with occasional clumps of the pink variety.

References

External links

*
Burke Museum in WA State: ''Claytonia sibirica'' Flora North America Treatment: ''Claytonia sibirica''Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Claytonia sibirica''Cal photos: ''Claytonia sibirica''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2223143 sibirica Edible plants Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus