Field journal

Miner's lettuce carpeting the ground under the oaks

San Domingo

  • A dense carpet of round, pale green leaves, each with a small cluster of tiny white flowers rising from its center, spreads toward a tangle of bare branches, gray-green trees and a sunlit grassy slope.

    Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) carpeting the ground, with sunlit grass beyond.

  • Close view of a single miner's lettuce stem rising through a round leaf, topped by a small cluster of white flowers and green buds, above a carpet of the same plant.

    Small white flowers rise from the center of each round leaf.

By mid-March, miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) carpeted the ground under the oaks at San Domingo Arbory. Each stem grows up through a round leaf and carries a small cluster of white flowers from its center. On the morning of March 16 the patch ran unbroken from the shade under the trees toward the sunlit grass.

Up close, the open flowers were small and white, with more green buds below them on the same short stalk.

Theme Monitoring biodiversity

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