Claytonia rubra ssp. depressa
Claytonia rubra ssp. rubra

General:
Annual herb from a slender taproot; stems ascending to erect, simple, several, red or green, 1-15 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves usually many, prostrate to spreading, smaller inward, elliptic, the blades 0.5-2 cm long, the bases tapered abruptly or squared off, the stalks 1-6 cm long; stem leaves paired, opposite, usually unequally fused, less than 4 cm wide.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of whorled racemes with 3-30 unstalked or stalked flowers, with one bract subtending the lowest flower; flower stalks red or green; petals 5, white or pinkish, 2-3.5 mm long; sepals 2, 1.5-3 mm long.

Fruits:
Capsules; seeds 3, round to egg-shaped, black, shiny, smooth (at 20x magnification), the ap pendages white, fleshy, 1.5-3 mm long.

Notes:
See comments under C. parviflora. Two closely related subspecies occur in our region:

1. Basal leaf blades widely elliptic to egg-shaped, the bases abruptly tapered; inflorescence more or less unstalked; only leaf stalks often red................ ssp. depressa (A. Gray) J. Miller & Chambers

1. Basal leaf blades diamond- or triangular-shaped, the bases squared off; inflorescence more or less stalked; plants and leaf stalks often red................... ssp. rubra

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia