Carolina Spring Beauty is a herbaceous perennial which has been moved from the Purslane family to the Miner's Lettuce family of plants. Carolina Spring beauty blooms early in the spring and grows along the East coast of North America. Carolina Spring beauty, as well as other species in the genus Claytonia, have been used historically as food for humans and livestock. The genus name 'Claytonia' is in commemoration of John Clayton (1686-1773), an American physician who collected several plant species in Virginia. The species name 'Caroliniana' means of Carolina a location where this plant was first identified.

There is currently no commercial applications for carolina spring beauty.

Within the realm of rational and holistic medicine, carolina spring beauty has been used as a food source for the native people of North America. Carolina spring beauty was also used to relieve pain by applying to cuts and sores. The plant was also eaten to treat constipation and to relieve headaches. Carolina Spring Beauty was mixed into a solution with pitch and mountain hemlock to treat the symptoms of Syphilis. The entire plant was chewed and swallowed to be used as a contraceptive or during pregnancy to ease in the birthing process. A plant infusion was taken orally to help relieve sore throats and stem juice was squeezed into the eye for sore red eyes.

Please note that MIROFOSS does not suggest in any way that plants should be used in place of proper medical and psychological care. This information is provided here as a reference only.

Carolina Spring Beauty is considered to be a nutritious food and contains Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and protein within the underground tubers. Carolina Spring beauty can be eaten raw, steamed, or cooked and dried. The leaves can be added raw to mixed salads or be cooked as a green vegetable.

Carolina Spring Beauty can grow in medium (loamy) or heavy (clay) soils, and prefers moist swampy land. Carolina Spring Beauty can grow in acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade and is known for attracting insects.

Soil Conditions
Soil Moisture
Sunlight
Notes:

Carolina Spring Beauty is a perennial plant growing from a globe shaped tuber that is 1cm to 2cm across. The leaves of the carolina spring beauty are linear basal shaped 3cm to 14cm long, 5mm to 13mm wide without stalks. The flowers of the carolina spring beauty are white with pink stripes 5mm to 12mm across. Each flower has five petals with two sepals 5mm to 7mm long. Each flower also contains 5 stamens and 1 pistil. The flowers are radially symmetrical and grow in clusters of two to ten with a nodding bract. Carolina Spring Beauty produces a fruit capsule which is globe shaped and enclosed by two persistent sepals with six seeds contained within.

Plant Height	15cm to 30cm
Habitat	Moist Woods, Thickets, Clearings, Lawns
Leaves	Linear basal leaves 5cm to 14cm long
Leaf Margin	Entire
Leaf Venation	Longitudinal
Stems	smooth stems
Flowering Season	March to May
Flower Type	Radially Symmetrical
Flower Colour	White
Pollination	Bees, Insects
Flower Gender	Flowers are hermaphrodite and the plants are self-fertile
Fruit	Hard oval seeds
USDA Zone	3B (-34°C to -37°C) cold weather limit

No known health risks have been associated with carolina spring beauty. However ingestion of naturally occurring plants without proper identification is not recommended.

-Click here- or on the thumbnail image to see an artist rendering, from The United States Department of Agriculture, of carolina spring beauty. (This image will open in a new browser tab)

Carolina Spring Beauty can be referenced in certain current and historical texts under the following three names:

Good Morning Spring	Rose Elf	Wide-Leaved Spring Beauty

Carolina Spring Beauty can be translated into the following select languages:

Arabic	ربيع الجمال	Bulgarian	пролетта красота	Chinese (Sim)	春美
Croatian	proljeće ljepota	Czech	jaro krásal	Danish	foråret skønhed
Dutch	lente schoonheid	Esperanto	printempa beleco	Estonian	kevadel ilu
Finnish	kevät kauneus	French	printemps beauté	German	Frühjahr Schönheit
Greek	την άνοιξη ομορφιά	Hebrew	יופי האביב	Hungarian	tavaszi szépség
Italian	primavera di bellezza	Japanese	春の美しさ	Korean	봄의 아름다움
Punjabi	ਬਸੰਤ ਸੁੰਦਰਤਾ	Lithuanian	pavasario grožis	Norwegian	våren skjønnhet
Persian	زیبایی بهار	Polish		Portuguese	primavera beleza
Romanian	primăvară frumusete	Russian	весной красоты	Slovak	jar krása
Spanish	belleza de primavera	Swedish	fjäder skönhet	Tagalog
Turkish	bahar güzelliği	Ukrainian	навесні краси	Vietnamese	mùa xuân đẹp

The information provided in this conservation assessment has been provided by the Natureserve Database in conjunction with various federal, provincial, state, county, district, regional, and municipal governments as well as public and private conservation authorities. Information in this section is accurate from the last time this article was updated.
	Carolina spring beauty is considered to be a secure native species in North America.

The MIROFOSS database offers free printable garden tags for personal and non-profit use. These tags can be used to properly identify plant samples in a garden. Click on the tags shown on the the screen or -click here- to download a full size jpeg image for a carolina spring beauty identification tag; which can be printed on paper or used with a plastic laser printer.

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Description	Davis, R. J. 1966. The North American perennial species of Claytonia. Brittonia 18:285-303
Description	Fassett, N. 1976. Spring flora of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.
Description	Gleason, H. A., and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Second Edition. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Folklore	MacKinnon, Kershaw, Arnason, Owen, Karst, Hamersley, Chambers. 2009. Edible & Medicinal Plants Of Canada ISBN 978-1-55105-572-5
Image Rendering	USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA NRCS. Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Environment	National Audubon Society. Field Guide To Wildflowers (Eastern Region): Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40232-2
Physical Identification	National Audubon Society. Field Guide To Wildflowers (Eastern Region): Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40232-2
August 29, 2015	The last time this page was updated
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