Spring Beauty

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” — Henri Matisse

Carolina Spring Beauty is a perennial wildflower and spring ephemeral native to the North Carolina mountains. Spring ephemerals quickly bloom and seed before the canopy trees overhead leaf out. They then die down to the ground in summer after the seed capsule matures. The plant is often found in the partial shade and moist soil of fertile open woods, alluvial thickets, wetlands, riparian hardwood forests, and upland slopes. The pink to white flowers have 5 petals with darker lines giving it a striped appearance. The genus name honors John Clayton (1686-1773), who came to Virginia from England in 1705.