126 PORTULACACEAE 



long; sepals slightly unequal, reniform-orbicular, 3.5-4 mm. long, thin, veiny, green with a white 

 margin and turning yellow throughout in age ; petals 5, 4-5 mm. long, rounded or retuse, clawed, 

 unequal in width and length ; stamens 3 ; capsule ovoid, narrowed at the base ; seeds 3, 1 . 5-2 mm. 

 long, black, shining, microscopically reticulate particularly on the margin. 



Damp soil in meadows and on hillsides, Transition Zone; British Columbia south to Cuyamaca Mountains, 

 southern California, and east to Montana and Nevada. Type locality: Great and Little Falls of the Columbia 

 River, Washington. April-June. 



5. Montia Howellii S. Wats. Howell's Montia. Fig. 1627. 



Montia Howellii S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 18: 191. 1883. 

 Claytonia Howellii Piper, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 11 : 251. 1906. 

 Montiastrum Howellii Rydb. Fl. N. Amer. 21 : 296. 1932. 



Diffuse branching annual, 1-4.5 cm. high, with the lower part of the decumbent stems root- 

 ing at the nodes. Leaves alternate, narrowly linear-spatulate, 1-10 mm. long with a dilated 

 hyaline clasping base ; inflorescence shorter than the leaves, axillary, 3-8-flowered with a scarious 

 bract opposite the subtending leaf; sepals round-ovate, 1.5-1.8 mm. long; petals minute, 2 or 

 wanting, white ; style shorter than the capsule ; stamens 2-3 ; capsule obovate, 1 mm. high ; 

 seeds 2-3. 



In moist meadows, Humid Transition Zone; British Columbia, western Washington, and Oregon, south to 

 Humboldt County, California. Type locality: Sauvies Island in the Willamette River, Oregon. March-May. 



6. Montia fontana L. Water-chickweed, Water Montia. Fig. 1628. 



Montia fontana L. Sp. PI. 87. 1753. 



Montia minor C. C. Gmelin, Fl. Bad. 1: 301. 1805. 



Montia Chatnissonis var. tenerrima A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 8: 378. 1872. 



Montia Hallii A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 283. 1887. 



Montia humilis Suksdorf, Werdenda 1: 10. 1923. 



Low weak branching annual, aquatic or terrestrial, often rooting at the nodes. Leaves oppo- 

 site, sessile, spatulate to lanceolate, 5-15 mm. long ; inflorescence leafy, the flowers nodding, 

 solitary or in terminal clusters; sepals 2 (rarely a third present), reniform, 1-1.2 mm. long; 

 petals white, more or less united at the base, split on one side with 3-5 rounded lobes a little sur- 

 passing the calyx ; stamens 3-5 ; ovules 3 ; capsule depressed-globose, slightly 3-lobed, 1-2 mm. 

 high, the valves tardily involute ; seeds black, closely muricate with acutish tubercles, not shining. 



Floating in streams or in drying pools, finally terrestrial, Lower Sonoran to Transition Zones; Washington 

 south to Lower Caifornia, Mexico, and east to the Atlantic seaboard. Also in Eurasia and South America. Type 

 locality: European. March-July. 



Montia dipetala Suksdorf, Werdendia 1: 9. 1923. (Montia stenophylla Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 21: 315. 

 1932.) Most marked variant, with more narrowly lanceolate leaves than the species, and often with only 2 cor- 

 olla lobes. Found in early drying pools, interior valleys from Washington to southern California. 



Montia Funstonii Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 21: 316. 1932. Differs from M. fontana in having low rounded 

 instead of acutish tubercles on the seed. Known only from the type collection from Whitney Meadows, Sierra 

 Nevada, California. 



7. Montia Chamissoi (Ledeb.) Durand & Jackson. Toad-lily. Fig. 1629. 



Claytonia Chamissoi Ledeb. ex Spreng. Syst. 1: 780. 1825. 



Claytonia stolonifera C. A. Mey. Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1: 139. 1829. 



Claytonia Chatnissonis Eschsch. ex Cham. Linnaea 6: 562. 1831. 



Claytonia aquatica Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 201. 1838. 



Montia Chamissoi Durand & Jackson, Ind. Kew. Suppl. 1 : 282, as a synonym. 1903. 



Crunocallis Chamissonis Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club. 33: 139. 1906. 



Perennial with floating or creeping leafy stems rooting at the nodes and producing runners 



having globose cormlets at the apex of the stems. Leaves opposite, oblanceolate, 1 . 5-4 cm. long, 



petiolate or sessile ; inflorescence racemose, axillary or terminal with 3-8 flowers, rarely bractless 



or with 1-2 bracts at the base of the raceme, the pedicels recurved in fruit ; sepals orbicular to 



reniform, nearly equal, 1.5-2 mm. high, 2-2.5 mm. broad; petals white or pink, 5-9 mm. long, 



ovate with a short claw, stamens 3-5 ; ovules 3 ; capsule obovoid, 1-1 . 5 mm. long ; seeds 1-3, black, 



muricate, the tubercles low and rounded. 



Mud or sand in bogs and streams, Upper Transition to Canadian Zones; Alaska to southern California and 

 east to Minnesota and New Mexico. Type locality: Aleutian Islands, Alaska. June— Aug. 



8. Montia cordifdlia (S. Wats.) Pax & K. Hoffm. Cordate-leaved Montia. 



Fig. 1630. 



Claytonia cordifolia S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 365. 1882. 



Claytonia asarifolia A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 280. 1887. Not Bong. 1832. 



Limnia cordifolia Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 21: 306. 1932. 



Montia cordifolia Pax & K. Hoffm. in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. ed. 2. 16c: 259. 1934. 



Perennial 1-3 dm. high, from a creeping, usually fleshy, sometimes slender rootstock. Basal 

 leaves several, 6-22 cm. long, petioles 4-18 cm. long, blades suborbicular to rounded ovate, not 

 acute at the apex, more or less cordate at the base, 2-6 cm. broad, faintly veiny; stem leaves 2, 

 sessile, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, similar to the basal leaves; raceme naked, lax, simple, 4-9-flowered, 

 6-10 cm. long in flower, lengthening to 10-20 cm. in age; pedicels 10-20 mm. long, spreading and 

 somewhat recurved in fruit; sepals suborbicular, 3.5-4 mm. long; petals 5, white, obovate, retuse, 



