Claytonia virginica

Description

Claytonia virginica, or Spring Beauty, is an early flowering spring wildflower with five white or pink petals striped with darker pink veins. Spring Beauty prefers rich, moist soil and part sun. The small woodland plant is great for pollinators, attracting honey bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, mason bees, cuckoo bees, Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees. Spring Beauty’s underground tuber has a sweet, chestnut-like flavor that was used by Native Americans for food. Spring Beauty looks great in rock gardens, woodland gardens, and meadows. It can also be naturalized in lawns in the same manner as spring crocus.