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Wildflowers Found in Oregon
Serpentine Spring-Beauty, Blue Leaved Spring Beauty,
Pale Claytonia, Glaucous Springbeauty
Claytonia exigua ssp. glauca
Montia perfoliata ssp. glauca
Claytonia exigua is a species of wildflower in the purslane family known by the
common names serpentine springbeauty and pale claytonia. It is native to
western North America from British Columbia to Idaho to California, where it
grows in a number of habitat types, including plant communities on serpentine
soils. This is a fleshy annual herb producing a patch of erect or leaning stems
up to about 15 centimeters tall. The thick leaves are linear in shape and
fingerlike near the base of the plant and crescent to disc-shaped farther up
the stem. The plant is hairless and waxy and varies in color from green to
pinkish, grayish, or brownish. The inflorescence holds several flowers on
drooping pedicels which turn erect as the plant develops fruit. The flower has
five lobed petals each a few millimeters long and in shades of pink, white, or
pink-streaked white. The fruit is a capsule less than three millimeters long
containing a few tiny seeds
On to Next Flower ⇨
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