Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)

Cone Peak Trail, Willamette National Forest, OR, 6/2017.

Spring Beauties are part of a group of plants sometimes called “spring ephemerals”, also including Blue-Eyed Grass, that harness the insulating properties of winter snowfall to send a shoot up from their underground bulb through the cold wet soil, during winter, so that they can be one of the first flowers on the scene when the snow begins to melt. Our favorite of the Claytonia genus. They are, we are told, completely edible.  Raw, they are said to taste like radishes, cooked-like baked potatoes.  Also known as “Lance-Leaf Spring Beauty.”

Cone Peak Trail, Willamette National Forest, OR, 6/2017.

Cone Peak Trail, Willamette National Forest, OR, 6/2017.