Claytonia

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The genus Claytonia is named after John Clayton (botanist, died 1773), who collected specimens of various plants in North America and distributed them to botanists in Europe.

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Claytonia
Claytonia virginica 2 Radnor Lake.jpg
Claytonia virginica
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Montiaceae
Genus: Claytonia
L.
Claytonia megarhiza Claytonia megarhiza 5933.JPG
Claytonia megarhiza
Flowers of Claytonia virginica Claytonia virginica UMFS 1.jpg
Flowers of Claytonia virginica

Claytonia (spring beauty) is a genus of flowering plants native to North America, Central America, and Asia. [1] The genus was formerly included in Portulacaceae [1] but is now classified in the family Montiaceae, [2] primarily native to the mountain chains of Asia and North America, with a couple of species extending south to Guatemala in Central America, and northwest to Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia in eastern Asia.

The genus Claytonia was moved in 2009 from the purslane family (Portulacaceae) with adoption of the APG IV system, which recognised the family Montiaceae. A number of the species were formerly treated in the related genus Montia . A comprehensive scientific study of Claytonia was published in 2006. [3]

Claytonia perfoliata , the species for which the term miner's lettuce was coined, is distributed throughout the Mountain West of North America in moist soils and prefers areas that have been recently disturbed.

[4]

Species

As of January 2019, Kew's Plants of the World Online lists 33 accepted species: [2]

Uses

The leaves of the spring beauty are rich in vitamins and can be eaten raw or cooked. The roots are in the form of tubers which can be eaten like potatoes. [5]

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Polygonum is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plant in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass. In the Middle English glossary of herbs Alphita, it was known as ars-smerte. There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be defined. For example, buckwheat has sometimes been included in the genus as Polygonum fagopyrum. Former genera such as Polygonella have been subsumed into Polygonum; other genera have been split off.

<i>Claytonia perfoliata</i> Species of edible flowering plant

Claytonia 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 native to the western mountain and coastal regions of North America, from southernmost Alaska and central British Columbia, all the way south to Central America, but most common in California in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Valleys. Recently as 2019 sightings of this plant have been found as far inland as Arkansas.

<i>Luzula</i> Genus of flowering plants in the rush family Juncaceae

Luzula is a genus of flowering plants in the rush family Juncaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species occurring throughout the world, especially in temperate regions, the Arctic, and higher elevation areas in the tropics. Plants of the genus are known commonly as wood-rush, wood rush, or woodrush. Possible origins of the genus name include the Italian lucciola or the Latin luzulae or luxulae, from lux ("light"), inspired by the way the plants sparkle when wet with dew. Another etymology sometimes given is that it does derive from lucciola but that this meant a mid-summer field, or from the Latin luculus, meaning a small place; the same source also states that this name was applied by Luigi Anguillara in 1561.

<i>Claytonia virginica</i> Species of plant

Claytonia virginica, the Virginia springbeauty, eastern spring beauty, grass-flower or fairy spud, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Montiaceae. Its native range is eastern North America. Its scientific name honors Colonial Virginian botanist John Clayton (1694–1773).

<i>Calandrinia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Calandrinia are a large genus of flowering plants known as purslanes and redmaids. It includes over 100 species of annual and perennial herbs which bear colorful flowers in shades of red to purple and white. Plants of this genus are native to Australia, western South America, Central America, and western North America. Some species have been introduced to parts of New Zealand, southern Africa, Asia, and Europe.

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<i>Claytonia sibirica</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae

Claytonia sibirica, the pink purslane, candy flower, Siberian spring beauty or Siberian miner's lettuce, is a flowering plant in the family Montiaceae, native to the Commander Islands of Siberia, and western North America from the Aleutian Islands and coastal Alaska south through the Queen Charlotte Islands, Vancouver Island, Cascade and Coast Ranges, to a southern limit in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Populations are also known from the Wallowa Mountains, Klamath Mountains, northern Idaho, 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.

<i>Montia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Montia is a genus of plants in the family Montiaceae. Species in this genus are known generally as miner's lettuce or water chickweed. All of the species in the genus have edible leaves. It is found worldwide, except in Asia.

<i>Dalea</i> Genus of legumes

Dalea is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as prairie clover or indigo bush. Its name honors English apothecary Samuel Dale (1659–1739). They are native to the Western hemisphere, where they are distributed from Canada to Argentina. Nearly half of the known species are endemic to Mexico. Two species of Dalea have been considered for rangeland restoration.

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<i>Anemonoides</i> Genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Anemonoides is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, on the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. The generic name Anemonoides means "anemone-like",, a reminder that many of the species were formerly included within the genus Anemone.

<i>Claytonia exigua</i> Species of flowering plant

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

John Clayton (1694/5–1773) was a Colonial plant collector and botanist in Virginia.

<i>Claytonia megarhiza</i> Species of flowering plant

Claytonia megarhiza is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae known by the common names fell-fields claytonia and alpine springbeauty. It is native to western North America from northwestern Canada to New Mexico, where it grows in rock crevices and talus habitats in subalpine and alpine climates. The species is known from summits and slopes of North America's highest mountains including the Redstone Mountains of the Canadian Northwest Territories, disjunct south to the central and southern Rocky Mountains reaching a southern limit in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The specific epithet megarhiza is Greek for "large roots".

<i>Claytonia parviflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Claytonia parviflora is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae known by the common name Indian lettuce. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to northwestern Mexico, where it is found in many types of habitat, particularly areas that are moist in the spring.

<i>Claytonia rubra</i> Species of flowering plant

Claytonia rubra is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae known by the common names redstem springbeauty and erubescent miner's lettuce. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to the Transverse Range of California, U. S. A. (and east to the Black Hills of South Dakota, U. S. A., where it is found in coniferous forests and shrublands. This is an annual herb with stems up to about 15 centimeters long. Some individuals may overwinter as biennials. The basal leaves have small rounded to diamond-shaped blades on long, tapering petioles. There are also leaves on the stem which may be rounded or squared and sometimes fuse together to create a bowl around the stem. All the leaves possess blunt tips according to published descriptions and taxonomic treatments. The herbage is red or pink in color at all stages of development. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of up to 30 tiny flowers, each with petals less than 4 millimeters long and white to pink-tinted in color. Together with Claytonia perfoliata and Claytonia parviflora, Claytonia rubra comprises what is almost certainly a polyploid pillar complex based on three diploid species, each occupying a definitive ecological niche

<i>Claytonia caroliniana</i> Species of flowering plant

Claytonia caroliniana, the Carolina springbeauty, is an herbaceous perennial in the family Montiaceae. It was formerly placed in the Portulacaceae. Its native range is eastern and central North America. It is most commonly found in the New England area of the United States but its habitat extends from Ontario and a northern limit in the Cape Anguille Mountains of Newfoundland and south to Alabama. It grows approximately 6 inches tall in forests of the Appalachian Mountains and piedmont

Claytonia tuberosa, commonly known as Beringian springbeauty or tuberous springbeauty, is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae. It is a perennial herb indigenous to Alaska, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon of North America, westward to East Asia–Siberia. The perennial grows from a globose tuberous root to a height of 15 centimetres (6 in) and bears several hermaphrodite white flowers on stems bearing a single pair of petiolate cauline leaves. Its closest relative is probably Claytonia virginica.

References

  1. 1 2 Flora North America
  2. 1 2 "Claytonia L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  3. Miller, J. M. and K. L. Chambers. 2006. Systematics of Claytonia (Portulacaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 78: 1-234. ISBN   0-912861-78-9
  4. Information page John Clayton herbarium at Natural History Museum, London UK. It reports that the genus name Claytonia was originated by Johan Frederik Gronovius (died 1762) in recognition that Gronovius had received the relevant specimens from John Clayton (died 1773).
  5. Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 212. ISBN   0-8117-0616-8. OCLC   799792.