nearly so; sepals (sometimes interpreted as bracts) usually 2, persistent or decidu- 

 ous, scarious or herbaceous; petals (sometimes called sepals) usually 4 or 5, often 

 fugacious or dehiscent; stamens inserted with the petals, sometimes adnate at the 

 base, of the same number as the petals or usually more; filaments filiform: anthers 

 2-celled, dehiscent longitudinally; ovary 1 -celled, superior or (in Portulaca) partly 

 or wholly inferior; styles 2 to 7. more or less united; ovules 2 to many, on a central 

 or basal placenta; fruit a loculicidal or circumscissile capsule, the valves as many 

 as the styles; seeds 3 to many or (by abortion) 1 or 2, mostly round-reniform, 

 compressed, lenticular, the testa often crustaceous and sometimes strophiolate. 



A family of a least 19 genera and more than 350 species that are worldwide in 

 distribution. 



1. Capsule 2- or 3-valved 1. Montia 



1. Capsule circumscissile 2. Portulaca 



1. Montia L. 



Herbs annual or perennial by rhizomes or stolons, succulent, glabrous, often 

 glaucous; leaves basal, opposite or alternate; inflorescence paniculate or racemose; 

 pedicels spreading or recurved in fruit; flowers white or pinkish-lavender; sepals 



2, subequal in size, persistent; petals 3 to 5, often unequal in size; stamens 3 or 5; 

 ovary 1-celled; styles 3; ovules 3; capsule globose or ovoid, 3-valved; seeds 1 to 6. 



About 50 species in North America, South America, temperate Eurasia, moun- 

 tains of tropical Africa, and Australia. 



1. Perennial, with runners ending in a bulblet; stem leaves several, obovate to 

 oblanceolate, tapering to base 1. M. Chamissoi. 



1. Annual with fibrous roots; stem leaves 2, forming a connate-perfoliate disk 

 that subtends the inflorescence 2. M. perfoliata. 



1. Montia Chamissoi (Ledeb.) Durand & Jackson, Fig. 435A. 



Perennial by bulblets produced at the ends of runners; stems prostrate or ascend- 

 ing, 5-30 cm. long, leafy particularly at tip; leaves opposite, petiolate, oblanceo- 

 late, 1-5 cm. long; inflorescence axillary or terminal, 3- to 8-flowered, 1 or 2 

 bracts at base of raceme or bractless; pedicels recurved in fruit; sepals orbicular, 

 about 2 mm. in diameter; petals white or pink, entire or barely retuse; stamens 

 3 to 5; ovules 3; capsule 1-1.5 mm. long; seeds black, shining, with low tubercles. 



Wet meadows, stream banks and bogs in mts. of N. M. (Rio Arriba, San 

 Miguel and Taos cos.) and Ariz. (Apache to Coconino, Yavapai and Gila cos.), 

 June-Aug.; la. to Alas., s. to N. M., Ariz, and Calif. 



2. Montia perfoliata (Donn) Howell. Miner's lettuce. Fig. 435B. 



More or less fleshy often reddish annual, erect or spreading, 5-30 cm. high; 

 basal leaves several, petioled, spatulate or lanceolate to rhomboidal, 1-7 cm. long; 

 stem leaves 2, united in an orbicular or angled disk subtending the inflorescence; 

 flowers pink or white, in congested or elongated often verticillate racemes with a 

 bract at the first branch of the inflorescence; sepals rounded, ovate, 2-3 mm. long; 

 petals 5, clawed, notched at the apex, 3-4.5 mm. long; ovules 3; capsule globose; 

 seeds 3, black, shining, 1-2 mm. long, minutely granulate with low tubercles. 



Along streams and about springs and in seepage areas in Ariz. (Coconino and 

 Mohave cos. to Santa Cruz and Pima cos.), Feb.-May; S.D. to B.C., s. to Ariz, 

 and Calif. 



2. Portulaca L. Purslane 



Diff'use or ascending annual or perennial succulent herbs; leaves alternate or 

 opposite, flat or terete, often in whorls around the flowers; stipules scarious or 

 none, or reduced to hairy tufts; flowers perfect, solitary or crowded at the top 



881 



