This is one of the earliest flowers of Spring, hence the English name Springbeauty. It was introduced to Kew Gardens in 1794 from western North America. It earned the name ‘Miner’s Lettuce’ as it was a remedy for scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) in the mining communities of the Californian Gold Rush.
From Kew (possibly one or more other botanic gardens) it has spread throughout Europe and beyond, even reaching the shores of Australia and New Zealand. It has a long record as a weed in some parts of Britain. The BSBI tell us “It was first recorded in the wild in 1849 and by 1853 was the most troublesome weed in the Chelsea Physic Garden. However, it was still relatively uncommon up to 1930. Since then it has spread significantly, and still seems to be increasing”.
It has also been called Cuban Spinach although I haven’t been able to find a direct connection with the island of Cuba (I’m guessing that migrant Spanish-Cubans were also gold miners in California). There is however a recognised subspecies called Claytonia perfoliata subsp. Mexicana and the most southerly record of the species in the American continent is Guatemala. So it is found in some parts of Central America but not Cuba.
It belongs to the Montiacea, a small Family containing (in the British Isles) just two Purslanes (Claytonia) and two Blinks (Montia); the family resembles the much larger family Caryophyllaceae.
It’s an annual, up to 30 cm tall with bright green leaves. The unusual appearance is because the stem-leaves are fused to form a cup-like structure around the inflorescence. It is hairless, and quite other-wordly. Also the main leaves are an unusual shape (‘ovate-rhombic’), bright-green and rather fleshy, with long petioles. The flowers are small, 5-8 mm, and they have five white petals. Seeds are larger than one might expect for such a small plant (2-4 mm) and the dispersal mechanism is said to be ‘ballistic’ but aided by ants (yes, like the Deadnettles, this one has tiny fat bodies ‘elaisomes’ attached to the seeds, attracting ants).
Here in Britain it completes its life cycle rather quickly, starting to flower now (late February). It sheds its seeds in early summer and withers away. Its habitats include arable fields, built-up areas and coastal shingle, usually on sandy soil. Where I live it occurs on the little patches of soil around traffic islands and at the base of urban trees; it shares these spots with chickweed and goosegrass. In a neighbourhood close to my house, local residents declared a war on street-weeds during the Covid lockdown when the local Council workers and their knapsack sprayers were not allowed out. Folk could be seen hard at work with shovels and hoes, ‘cleaning’ the roadsides of any trace of plant life. The Springbeauty seems to have been undeterred by this aggressive action and has returned stronger than before. I suspect it had shed its seeds before the war started.
In North America it forms a ‘species complex’ where many subspecies are known and chromosomes counts vary (diploid, tetraploid and hexaploidy (McIntyre 2012). McIntyre’s paper asks whether the higher level of ploidy enables colonisation of a broader niche. As might be expected, the short answer is ‘yes’ and perhaps if we had such a broad range of cytotypes the plant would be more widespread. It seems likely that we have only one type in Britain with 2n=36, but we don’t know for sure (Wilcox 2015).
In Britain it probably has a narrow genetic base but I have not been able to find any research on this specific topic. It is however listed in PLANTATT, the data base of species attributes in Britain where it is said to be a moisture-loving plant which lives on arable and horticultural soils, urban ‘built-up’ areas and supra-littoral sediments (an associated with the sea has been noted elsewhere).
In North America the present distribution pattern in California can be seen here: https://www.gbif.org/species/7736011. It grows by the coast and inland near water. Its link with the Gold Rush may be related to a tendency to grow near water, where it would be noticed by the gold-miners. It is quite pleasant to eat, and a favourite of botanical foragers. It is best uncooked, in sandwiches. I was surprised to find that seeds are readily-available on-line, where it is sometimes called ‘Indian Lettuce’, possibly an allusion to the North American tribes (‘indians’), the Cahuilla, who came under increasing pressure in the 1850s from waves of European-American gold-rushers and settlers.
References
McIntyre PJ (2012) Polyploidy assiciated with altered and broader ecological niches in Claytonia perfoliata species complex. American Journal of Botany 99, 655-662.
Wilcox M (2016) Claytonia perfoliata in the British Isles; could ours be classed as a new subspecies? BSBI News 124, 46.
© John Grace
Botany in Scotland 