Claytonia perfoliata Donn ex Willd.

Miner's Lettuce

© SRTurner

Family - Portulacaceae

Habit - Annual forb.

	Habit.
© SRTurner

	Base of plant.
© SRTurner

Stems - Spreading to erect, to 40 cm, glabrous.

Leaves - Basal and cauline, simple. Basal leaves petiolate, to 4 cm, rounded and less than 3 times longer than wide, elliptic to reniform, the tips rounded to acute. Stem leaves 2, fused around stem, rounded or obtuse-angled.

	Stem leaves adaxial.
© SRTurner

	Stem leaves abaxial.
© SRTurner

Inflorescences - Terminal stalked racemes of 5-40 flowers, these tending to all point in the same direction, subtended by an inconspicous bract.

	Inflorescences.
© SRTurner

	Inflorescences.
© SRTurner

Flowers - Sepals 1.5-5 mm, herbaceous. Petals 5, 2-6 mm long, white to pink. Stamens 5, ovary with one locule, style 1, stigmas 3.

	Sepals.
© SRTurner

	Corolla.
© SRTurner

Fruits - Capsules with 3 valves, 1.5-4.0 mm, forcibly ejecting seeds at dehiscence. Seeds 1.2-2.7 mm, ovate to round, shiny, smooth.

Flowering - May.

Habitat

Origin - Native to the U.S.

Lookalikes - None.

Other info. - This small but distinctive plant has only been found in Missouri near the greenhouses of Missouri Botanical Garden. Its occurrence there is probably the result of seeds imported unintentionally as a contaminant of bedding mix. It is listed here because there is the potential for the plants to have escaped from there into the wild, though no escapes have been found thus far and the likelihood of such an event is considered remote. The population is far disjunct from the plant's normal range, which is the western third of the continental U.S. There, it is common. The plant is recognized by its single pair of fused leaves directly beneath the inflorescence, and by the flowers, which are very similar to, though smaller than, those of C. virginica (spring beauty), a very common species in Missouri.

Another name for the species is Montia perfoliata. Subspecies have been named, but assignment tends to be difficult due to phenotypic intergradation.

Photographs taken at Couer d'Alene, Kootenai County, ID, 5-15-2025 (SRTurner).