Flora of North America species comparison

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Claytonia perfoliata

Indian lettuce, miner's-lettuce, miner's-lettuce spring-beauty, winter purslane
Habit Plants annual, with minute, tuberous bodies; periderm absent.
Stems

5–50 cm.
Leaves

basal leaves in suberect to erect, seldom flattened rosettes, petiolate, 1–30 cm, blade often with weak red pigmentation, broadly rhombic to deltate or reniform, 1–7 × 0.5–5(–6) cm, apex obtuse to apiculate, mucro 1–3 mm;

cauline leaves sessile, blade perfoliate or cleft or notched, 10 cm diam. or less.
Inflorescences

1-bracteate;

bract leaflike, 0.5–15 mm.
Flowers

3–10 mm;

sepals 1.5–4 mm;

petals pink or white, 2–5 mm;

ovules 3.
Seeds

2–5 mm, shiny and smooth;

elaiosome 1–3 mm.
2n

= 12, 24, 36, 48, 60.

Claytonia perfoliata
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Central America (Guatemala); adventive in Europe; Pacific Islands (New Zealand)
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Discussion

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Basal leaf rosettes erect, 20-50 cm; cauline leaf pairs connate into perfoliate discs, blade margins entire; seeds 3-5 mm
subsp. perfoliata
1. Basal leaf rosettes suberect to flattened, 2-30 cm; cauline leaf pairs perfoliate, blade margins notched or deeply cleft; seeds 2-4 mm
→ 2
2. Basal leaf blades ovate to broadly rhombic, apex obtuse; leaf blades often beet red, gray-green, or purplish; epidermal gas pockets easily seen in field; seeds 3-4 mm
subsp. intermontana
2. Basal leaf blades deltate, apex apiculate; leaf blades mostly green; not beet red; epidermal gas pockets usually not visible (except in populations of California Transverse Ranges); seeds 2-3 mm
subsp. mexicana
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 472.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Claytonia
Sibling taxa
C. acutifolia, C. arctica, C. arenicola, C. caroliniana, C. cordifolia, C. exigua, C. gypsophiloides, C. lanceolata, C. megarhiza, C. multiscapa, C. nevadensis, C. ogilviensis, C. palustris, C. parviflora, C. rosea, C. rubra, C. sarmentosa, C. saxosa, C. scammaniana, C. sibirica, C. tuberosa, C. umbellata, C. virginica, C. washingtoniana
Subordinate taxa
C. perfoliata subsp. intermontana, C. perfoliata subsp. mexicana, C. perfoliata subsp. perfoliata
Synonyms Montia perfoliata
Name authority Donn ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 2: 1186. (1798)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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