The leaves can be eaten either raw or in cooked form. The seeds are pollinated by flies and self. "Per" means "through" and foliata, refers to the foliage. Miner’s lettuce is has a very high content of Vitamin C, A and other vitamins and minerals - hence the name: miners in … Sow seeds 1/2" apart, in rows 12" apart, covering 1/4". If transplanting, sow 4-5 seeds per 1-2" cell container. Actually all the parts of miner’s lettuce plants are edible, and this vegetable can be eaten either raw or cooked in many different ways. When you just can’t wait any longer for spring, miner’s lettuce is ready to harvest, even earlier than fiddleheads, chickweed, or mint. Edible Uses. Young stems are often tender enough to use in salads, but if you don’t like how they look, you can pinch them off the round leaves when you get home. Enjoy the stems, leaves, and tiny white flowers of this lush edible groundcover in shady garden spaces or as Winter salad greens - raw or cooked! Perfoliata comes from Latin. The entire miner’s lettuce plant is edible, but the tenderest and tastiest parts are the terminal leaves. Miner's Lettuce - Claytonia perfoliata Edible plant - novice Other common names: Winter Purslane, Indian Purslane, Spring Beauty Scientific name meaning: Clayton is arrived from the name of a botanists in the 1600s - John Clayton. But it is edible and a great source of vitamin C. Miners used to eat the plant as salad greens, as well as the edible blossoms and stems of the plants. Edible Miner’s Lettuce. Miner’s lettuce can be used on a sandwich in place of traditional lettuce, used as a beautiful and edible plate liner for main-dish salads like chicken almond or Cobb, or a chopped salad. Edible & Wild Miners Lettuce "Undeservedly so. Farmgirl Confidential A delicious late winter alternative to nothing, miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is the iceberg lettuce of wild foods, ready to harvest at a time of year when nothing else grows. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Claytonia perfoliata CULTURE: Direct seed any time midspring through late summer. Thin to 4-6" apart. Miner’s lettuce is pleasingly crunchy, mild-tasting, has large leaves, remains tender even when in flower, and is so loaded with vitamins it will cure scurvy. Pinch the stem just above the bottom leaves, leaving them behind to continue growing. These plants are naturally distributed in waste lands, moist banks and slopes and also dry sandy soils. Various Uses Of Miner’s Lettuce. These plants grow wonderfully in many soils, but prefer dry or moist soils.