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Spring Beauty
The Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata), is one of the first spring
flowers. It has white or pink flowers, with darker pink veins. There is one
pair of opposite stem leaves, and one basal leaf from a round tuberlike
corm. Each flower has two sepals, five petals, five stamens, and one pistil
with a three-cleft style. It is found in moist soil, flowering in early
April at lower altitudes and later at higher levels. There are many species
of this genus in our mountain flora. All parts are considered edible, and
are used by people throughout the world. Indians ate the tubers raw (they
have a radishlike taste) or boiled (like a potato). This plant is grazed
by deer, elk, and sheep in the spring. Grizzlies are very fond of it.
Dixie Rose, in her book "Utah's Intermountain Wildflowers", says:
"Blossoms of Spring Beauty are like innocent little girls in pin striped
pinafores. Our western Spring Beauty is very like the eastern species, but
the leaves are not as narrow. The stem grows from a tuber. It has five
petalled pink flowers in clusters. It is a perennial, growing on moister
hills. As spring advances, so does the Spring Beauty, reaching canyon areas
by May, and the mountains by June.
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