Claytonia sibirica 西伯利亞春美草

Common name: Pink Purslane
Scientific name: Claytonia sibirica 西伯利亞春美草
Genus: Claytonia 春美草屬
Family: Montiaceae 水卷耳科*,  spring beauty family, miner's lettuce family

Remarks*: Claytonia was placed in Portulacaceae 馬齒莧科, the purslane family, previously. In the APG III system, Claytonia were moved to a newly adopted family - Montiaceae 水卷耳科. The differences between these two families morphologically are as follows:

a Fruit dehiscence circumscissile, top portion shed intact as a lid (operculum) -- Portulacaceae
b Fruit dehiscence valvate starting at the top, without true operculum -- Montiaceae

Origin: Neophyte (established after 1500 AD). It is a native of eastern Asia and western N. America. It was cultivated by 1768 and was first recorded in the wild in 1838.

Date: 13th April

An erect, glabrous annual to perennial, can reach up to 40 cm.

The base of the plant.

Young basal leaf, long-stalked.

Another basal leaf.

Inflorescence terminal at the stem. 2 stem leaves, opposite, sessile but not fused across stem.

2 stem leaves, opposite, sessile but not fused across stem.

Photo enlarged below to see the flower buds.

Flower buds (the right and middle one in the above photo.) The left one is the withered flower.

Photo enlarged below to see the sepals.

Side view of the flowers showing the 2 sepals of each flower.

Photo enlarged below to see the details of the flowers.

5 pink petals, deeply notched.

Another flower enlarged below.

5 stamens, 1 style with 3 stigmas spreaded out.

One more flower enlarged below.

This flower has a fresher style with the 3 stigmas still hold together and not yet spread out.

Could you see the possible pollinator here ? See the enlarged photo below.

A possible pollinator?