Claytonia peirsonii subsp. peirsonii

Peirson's spring beauty, Peirson’s spring beauty

Family: Montiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Peirson's spring beauty is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Mountains in mixed conifer, subalpine forest, pinyon-juniper, and oak woodland at elevations of 1,510 to 2,745 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces white flowers with faint pink veins and yellow to orange bases, delicate and softly colored. Growing with slender stems 5 to 18 centimeters tall, it develops a distinctive beet-red coloration on leaf undersides. Its basal leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate, 10 to 35 millimeters long and 5 to 7 millimeters wide, with cauline leaves often asymmetric and ovate to lance-ovate. The plant typically grows on north-facing stony slopes with alkali-rich substrates like granite and gneiss, often nestled among organic material.

Habitat: Openings and under closed canopy of mixed conifer and subalpine forest down to pinyon-juniper and oak woodland, generally on north-facing stony and talus slopes of mainly alkali-rich substrates (e.g. gneiss, granite, schist) often mixed with organic material

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: 1510-2745 m.

Bioregions: Los Angeles, San Bernardino

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.