Claytonia rubra (T.J. Howell) Tidestrom ssp. rubra (PORTULACACEAE)—Arlington County: rim of Potomac River Gorge, 25 m from George Washington Memorial Parkway roadside, 100msouth of first overlook, 7 April 2009, Steury 090407.1 {CM, George Washington Memorial Parkway Herbarium, UC}.
Significance. This is the first record for Eastern Kartesz 1999, Miller 2003). Claytonia rubra (red-stem springbeauty) is native to western North America, north to southern British Columbia, Canada, south to southern California and near northern Arizona, all along the West Coast, and east to Colorado (one station) and eastern South Dakota (Miller 2003). It is an annual, or sometimes overwintering and biennial, prostrate herb, bearing minute tuberous bodies on the root hairs (Miller 2003).Within its native range, it occurs on vernallymoist dunes, in coniferous forest or scrub, in sun or shade (Hickman 1993). In Virginia, 163 flowering plants were found over an area of 28 m 3 3 m along the ecotone of a cliff bluff dominated by deciduous trees and shrubs and a grassy roadside, on bare, open, mossy ground that is vernally in full sun, but mostly shaded by late spring. The dominant associated species was the non-native herb Veronica hederifolia L. The only native species observed within the Claytonia rubra population were Carex pensylvanica Lam., Eurybia divaricata (L.) Nesom. and over hanging branches of Juglans nigra L. and Cornus florida L. All other associates were non-native, including Poa annua L., Lamium purpureum L., Stellaria media (L.) Vill., Cruciata pedemontana (Bellardi) Ehrend, and Scleranthus annuus L.