Photo by Jay Sturner, licensed under CC-BY 2.0

Taken by and in member Peggy Dyson-Cobb’s field edge. Emits a fragrance at night that attracts night-flying moths that are the plant’s primary pollinators.

Claytonia virginica as identified by a local college botany professor. Although the Flora didn’t mention reddening of the sepals and pedicels in the descriptions of the two Claytonia species in VA, red plant tissues often develop under intense direct sun combined with low levels of mineral nutrients. The structure seems to fit C. virginica.  Photo: Jan Hunter Smith