Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate deciduous forest
Range: Eastern North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Burrowing
Status: Common

About

A delicate spring ephemeral of eastern North American woodlands and lawns, with five white petals distinctively striped with deep-pink veins. It blooms for only two to three days per flower, then retreats entirely underground for the rest of the year as a small starchy corm.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Montiaceae
Genus: Claytonia
Species: Claytonia virginica