Photograph courtesy of Univ. of Georgia Herbarium. Copyright Dept. of Botany, Univ. of Georgia,
 

Common Names:
Spring Beauty, Carolina Spring Beauty, Wild Potatoes, Good Morning Spring and Tangle Gut

Taxonomy:
Class:  Magnoliopsida
Order:  Caryophyllales
Family:  Portulacaceae
Genus:  Claytonia
Species:  Caroliniana
 

Identification and General Description:
Height:  6-12 in. (15-30 cm)
Root:  tuberous, perennial
Stem:  herbaceous, erect, 6-10 in. (15-25 cm) high, terete, glaborous, and simple
Leaves:  two, opposite, generally linear, entire,glaborous, connate, 2-8 in. (5-20 cm) long, 2-4 in. (5-10 cm) wide
Flowers:  4-18 in. (10-45 cm), arranged in a simple raceme
Petals:  oval, obtuse, striate, white to rose colored with dark rose veins
Seed:  somewhat lenticular, black, 1-2 per valve, attached to a central receptacle

Habitat and Range:
Habitat:  wide variety of habitats, praries, lawns, and disturbed sites, but moist woodland, thickets and clearings preferred.
Range:  Ontario to Quebec and Southern New England; south to Georgia; west to Louisana and Texas; North to Minnesota

Geography and Natural History:
Probably the most abundant of spring flowers throughout its range is the Spring Beauty.  It is one of the first flowers to appear in the spring.  In its southern range it begins blooming in late February and continues to bloom for about two months.  The Spring Beauty is a member of the Portulacaceae Family, therefore it has long fleshy leaves and a central stem that bears flower buds.  Each flower opens for about three days.  The first day the pink anthers open and shed their pollen. Robertson, in Flowers and Insects, lists103 species of bees, flies, butterflies and beetles that gather Spring Beauty pollen and help distribute it.  Two features that some list as ways that Spring Beaty stands out to insects are its petals are pink to white with darker pink veins that some entomologists say attract isects and according to Schemske, in "Flowering Ecology of Some Spring Woodland Herbs," found that filaments located in the stamens reflect ultraviolet light.  The flowers open up in sunlight, but close in even the briefest sunless moments such as when the sun is behind clouds.  The second day the flower opens the anthers are already out of pollen and have withered.  On the third day the flower opens for one last hope of being pollenated, after witch the petals wilt and seeds begin to form in the ovary.

Links:

 Claytonia caroliniana 1

 Claytonia caroliniana 2
 

 High resolution photo of C. caroliniana
 

References:
1.  Chapman, W.K., Chapman, V.A., Bessette, A.E. and A.R., and Pens, D.R.  1998.  Wildflowers Of New York.  Syracuse University Press.  Syracuse, NY.
2.  Wells, B.W.  1932.  The Natural Gardens of North Carolina.  The University of North Carolina Press.  Chapel Hill, NC.
3.  Core, E.L.  1952-1964.  Flora of West Virginia.  West Virginia University Bulletin.  Morgantown, WV.
4.  Elliott, Stephen.  1971.  A Sketch of the Botony of South Carolina and Georgia.  Hafner Publishing Company.  New York, Ny.
5.  Core, E.L.  1955.  Plant Taxonomy.  Prentice-Hall, Inc.  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
6.  Gupton, O.W. and Swope, Fred C., 1979.  Wildflowers of the Shenandoah Valley & Blue Ridge Mountains.  University Press of Virginia.  Charlottesville, VA.
7.  Gronovius, J.F. 1946.  Flora Virginica.  The Murray Printing Company, Cambridge, Mass.
8.  Niering, William A. and Olmstead, Nancy C.  1979.  The Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers.  Random House, Inc., New York.
9.  Robertson, Charles.  1889.  Flowers and Insects III.  Botanical Gazette 14:297-304.
10.  Schemske, D.W., M.F. Willson, M.N. Melampy, L.J. Miller, L. Verner, K.M. Schmeske, and L.B. Best.  1978.  Flowering Ecology of some Spring Woodland Herbs.  Ecology 59:351-366.