Claytonia megarhiza var. nivalis – Calandrinia megarhiza var. nivalis – Spring Beauty –

Description

Claytonia – Spring Beauty – There are about 15 species of deciduous and evergreen, succulent, small perennials and some annuals or short lived perennials, in this genus. They occur mainly in mountainous area, often in scree, in Australasia and Western North America. They have swollen taproots and sometimes spread by stolons. They produce rosettes of fleshy, stalked basal leaves, and opposite, stalkless, often stem clasping upper leaves. Small, short lived, 5 petalled, cup or bowl shaped, pink, purple, yellow or white flowers are borne in terminal racemes in summer. Grow in an alpine house or a scree bed. Grow in gritty, humus rich, sharply drained soil in full sun. Protect from excessive winter moisture. Prone to downy mildew, rust, and aphids. C. megarhiza var. nivalis – Calandrinia megarhiza var. nivalis – This short lived, large tap rooted, evergreen perennial from the Rocky Mountains in the USA grows 2″ tall and 6″ wide. It produces spoon shaped, fleshy, gray green or deep green basal leaves, to 6″ long, and smaller, inversely lance shaped to linear upper leaves. In early summer it bears shallowly cup shaped, deep purple-pink flowers, 3/4-1 1/4″ across, occasionally suffused yellow are carried in dense racemes or short, branching stems Zones 5-8