Family:
Portulacaceae
Common Name(s):
Spring beauty
Flowering Time:
April - May (a spring ephemeral)
Fruit/Seed Maturation Sign:
Capsules lighten in color; seeds dark black and shiny
Fruit/Seed Collection Dates:
early to mid May
Seed Cleaning:
Separate seeds from capsules
Storage:
Intolerant of dry storage (Cullina 2000)
Restoration Potential:
Medium
Notes
Once established, plants self-sow; reach maturity in "a few years" (Cullina 2000).
Seed output moderate (Fernald 1950, Barkely 1986, Gleason and Cronquist 1991). Root is a small (mostly less than an inch) thick tuber with branching fibrous rootlets (Runkel and Bull 2009).
Pollination: A host for mining bee species that specialize on their pollen. Bowl-like flower shape appeals to spring-flying butterflies (Borge, 2020)
