[Spring Beauties and Miner's Lettuce: The Genus Claytonia in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]
Pale Montia, Pale Springbeauty
Claytonia exigua ssp. exigua
Synonyms: Claytonia spathulata, Claytonia spathulata var. exigua, Claytonia spathulata var. spathulata, Montia spathulata, Montia spathulata var. exigua, Montia spathulata var. spathulata
Pale montia as seen at the crest of the Columbia Hills in the
eastern Columbia River Gorge.........May 5, 2005. Note the horn-like leaves subtending the inflorescence, a useful characteristic to help distinguish from the similar var. glauca which has a rounded, perfoliate stem leaf below the inflorescence. Note also the glaucous
cast to the entire plant, the narrow, erect basal rosette of leaves and the
claw-like pair of stem leaves subtending the short inflorescence of this species.
Pale montia from Stacker Butte, Columbia Hills, Columbia
River Gorge, Washington...........April, 2002.
Characteristics:
Pale montia is a small, glaucous annual with one to several
simple, erect stems from 10-60 cm long. The numerous basal leaves are linear
to linear-spatulate, measuring from 2-6 cm long and 0.5-1.5 mm wide. The two
stem leaves are opposite, wider and larger than the basal leaves. They are linear-lanceolate
to lanceolate-ovate in shape and measure from 5-40 mm long. As seen from the
photos, the stem leaves can appear somewhat similar in appearance to the claw
of a crab.
The racemes measure from 5-20 mm long. The 2-7 flowers are whitish
to pink in color, with the 2 sepals 1-2 mm long and the petals from 2.5-4.5
mm long.
Habitat:
Pale montia is found on seasonally moist to dry soils in the
lowlands.
Range:
Pale montia may be found from southern British California south
along the western edge of the Washington Cascades to the Columbia River, and
south along both sides of the Oregon Cascades to southern California.
In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found east of Bingen,
WA between the elevations of 100'-2600'.
Pale springbeauty as seen on bare clay hillsides above Swale Creek in Klickitat County..........May 8, 2010.
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Close-ups of the inflorescence and notched but still joined pair of stem leaves of pale springbeauty. The glaucous coloration of the foliage is evident here..........May 8, 2010.
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Additional photos of pale springbeauty as seen on bare clay hillsides above Swale Creek in Klickitat County.........May 8, 2010.
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Pale springbeauty as seen on mossy cliffs on the north side of Chenoweth Table west of The Dalles, Oregon.........March 28, 2013. Note several dwarf miner's-lettuce (Montia dichotoma) around the pale springbeauty in the photo at left.
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Pale springbeauty as seen on ground burned by the 2014 wildfire which swept across the southeastern slopes of Sevenmile Hill several miles northwest of The Dalles, Oregon.........March 30, 2015.
Pale springbeauty from Stacker Butte, Columbia Hills, Columbia River Gorge, Washington..........April,
2002.
Paul Slichter