Just two cups of miners lettuce has 33% of the daily recommended of Vitamin C, 22% of Vitamin A, and 10% iron per serving. 

The wild green got its name when early day gold miners relied on it for Vitamin C to fight off scurvy. It is said to have also been a staple in the diet of Native Americans along the west coast. Miners lettuce can be found growing wild from California all the way up to Alaska, and has made appearances along the east coast too.

There are two main varieties one which we call True Miners lettuce claytonia perfoliota and then Siberian or claytonia Sibirica. Though they both grow very similarly into rossets with outer non flowering leaves then a tighter inner set of flowers leaves taste is the biggest difference. For identifying it is fairly easy as the flowering leaves of the true type is cats head shaped with the flowering part in the middle. Siberian has spade shaped outer leaves with double spade shaped inner leaves with the flower inbetween the two leaves.

The taste is very different between the two. They are both in the Purslane family so have a succulent character with crispy stems but Siberian has a bitter aftertaste compared to a sweet flavor in the true. There are some areas that Siberian is less bitter but overall it is nowhere near as good. Also Siberian tends to be larger in size not as delicate looking as the true.