Claytonia perfoliata Willd. ssp. perfoliata (C.p. Donn. var. p.)   =Montia perfoliata                                                                    Portulacaceae (Purslane Family)   Native   Miner's Lettuce    Common Miner's Lettuce

                             March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Glabrous, green annual, branched from base, 1-3 dm. high; basal lvs. rhombic-ovate to elliptic-obovate, tip obtuse to acute, long-petioled, 5-20 cm. long; cauline lvs. 2, opposite, connate into an oblique orbicular disk 1-8 cm. broad; racemes +/- elongate, sessile or peduncled, the fls. usually +/- whorled; pedicels commonly 2-8 (-10) mm. long, often recurved in fr.; sepals rounded, ca. 3-5 mm. long; petals white, clawed, obovate, 4-6 mm. long; seeds black, shining, rounded, minutely punctate, 1-2 mm. in diam.

Habitat:  Common in +/- shaded and vernally moist places, below 5000 ft.; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, S. Oak Wd., etc.; L. Calif. to B.C., inland to desert edge.  Feb.-May.

Name:  Named for John Clayton, 1693-1773, an American botanist and the Attorney General for Colonial Virginia, who was the sole collector for an early flora of Virginia.  The manner in which the stem "perforates" the leaf is most distinctive and is expressed in the species name perfoliata.  (Dale 161).

General:  Occasional in the study area.  There are sometimes large patches of this plant in vernally moist areas.  Photographed on the Castaway's Bluffs, above Back Bay Drive between Big Canyon and the old Salt Works dike and at the intersection of Back Bay Dr. with Eastbluff Dr.  (my comments).      Indians ate the tender, fleshy leaves raw or cooked and made a tea of the plant to use as a laxative.  Miners used the leaves, an important source of vitamin C, as salad greens to help prevent scurvy.  This is one of the few native plants to have been introduced into Europe.  (Clarke 60).      Indians in Placer County are reported to have put the leaves near the entrance of red ant holes.  After the ants had swarmed on the leaves, they were shaken off leaving a vinegary taste, which was much relished.  (Dale 160,161).     C. perfoliata has been known to accumulate free nitrates in quantities capable of causing death or distress in cattle.  (Fuller 384).      The Cahuilla, Indians who inhabited the Colorado Desert, the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains used this plant fresh or boiled.  (Bean 89).      The 1993 Jepson Manual lists ssp. mexicana and ssp. perfoliata while Munz, Flora So. Calif. lists var. perfoliata, var. depressa, var.  parviflora and var. utahensis.  In the spring of 1994, I confirmed that our local ssp. is  perfoliata.       Highly variable; sspp. difficult because of environmental plasticity, genetic mixing among polyploids, and geographical overlap of distinct, self-pollinating forms.  (Hickman, Ed. 900).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 900; Munz, Calif. Flora 302; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 712; Robbins et al. 172; Roberts 34.

Photo Ref:  Mar-April 83 # 13; Feb 1 85 # 24,E; Mar 2 85 # 20; Feb 05 # 17.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

First Found:  March 1983.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 264.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 3/3/05.

                                 February Photo                                                      March Photo