Claytonia washingtoniana

Suksdorf's spring beauty

Family: Montiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Suksdorf's spring beauty is a California native annual found in the northern Coast Ranges in generally shady moist woodland, streambanks, and seeps at elevations below 150 meters. Flowering from January to June, this delicate plant produces pale pink flowers 4 to 5 millimeters long in small clusters of 5 to 25 blooms. Growing with spreading to erect stems 6 to 40 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive basal leaves with widely diamond-shaped blades 1 to 5 centimeters long. Its leaves have a characteristic wedge-shaped or truncate base with an acute tip, ranging from basal leaves up to 30 centimeters long to smaller cauline leaves that are widely ovate and sessile. The tiny seeds are elliptic, measuring 1.5 to 2 millimeters and appearing either shiny or dull.

Habitat: Generally shady moist woodland, streambanks, seeps

Bloom period: Jan-Jun

Elevation: < 150 m

Bioregions: NCo

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