Spring Beauties

Claytonia virginica, spring beauties, are so common now that we often do not give them much attention. But here at Habitat Home, they are covering the woodland floor with white and demanding attention. Taking time to bend over and really look at them can be delightfully surprising. The flowers are actually quite colorful with their pink striped petals. The flowers then develop into seed capsules. And here again, you will be rewarded with a closer inspection. The seed capsules when ripe will explosively eject the  tiny seeds up to two feet. But by late spring the leaves have died back and the plant lives underground as a corm for the rest of the year. But here again, you can be rewarded if you know that the corm is edible and some say almost as tasty as a potato. But who would want to dig up and eat such potential?