''Claytonia parviflora'' is a species of wildflower 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 AP ...
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.
Description
''C. parviflora'' is an annual herb growing in a clump or spreading to a maximum length of about 30 centimeters. The basal leaves are linear, often with an indistinct petiole. Some races may have lance-shaped blades on long, tapering
petioles. There are also leaves on the flower stem which may be similar in shape or may be rounded or squared and sometimes fuse together to create a bowl around the stem. The herbage is green to pink in color. 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 ...
is a cluster of up to 40 small flowers, each with petals a few millimeters long and white to pink-tinted, or deep pink in color. The largest flowers, up to 1 cm in diameter, are found in ''Claytonia parviflora'' subsp. ''grandiflora'', which is a subspecies endemic to the foothills and lower slopes of the western Sierra Nevada of North America. Together with ''Claytonia perfoliata'' and ''Claytonia rubra'', ''Claytonia parviflora'' comprises what is almost certainly a polyploid pillar complex.
There are four well-defined subspecies of ''Claytonia parviflora'': ''Claytonia parviflora'' subsp. ''grandiflora'', ''Claytonia parviflora'' subsp. ''parviflora'', ''Claytonia parviflora'' subsp. ''utahensis'', and ''Claytonia parviflora'' subsp. ''viridis.''
[Miller, J. M. and K. L. Chambers. 2006. Systematics of Claytonia (Portulacaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 78: 1-236. ]
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto galleryFlora North America
Plants described in 1832
parviflora
Flora of Northern America
{{Caryophyllales-stub