PURSLANE FAMILY 129 



Montia spathulata var. tenuifolia (Torr. & Gray) Munz, Man. S. Calif. 157. 193S. Somewhat glaucous 

 annual with several to many slender stems and linear basal leaves typically shorter than the stems; stem leaves 

 linear-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, connate only at the base, surpassing or equaling the subumbellate inflo- 

 rescence; petals 3-4 mm. long. In shady places, Siskiyou County to San Diego County, California, but most 

 abundant in foothills adjacent to San Joaquin Valley from Monterey and Tuolumne Counties south to San Diego 

 County, California. 



Montia spathulata var. viridis Davidson, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 5: 61. 1907. Plant green, the narrow 

 basal leaves with evident petioles and stem leaves surpassing the inflorescence; sepals markedly unequal. Moun- 

 tains of southern California, Ventura County to San Diego County. 



13. Montia arenicola (Henderson) Howell. Henderson's Montia. Fig. 1635. 



Claytonia arenicola Henderson, Bull. Torrey Club 22: 49. 1895. 

 Montia arenicola Howell, Fl. N. W. Amer. 1 : 96. 1897. 

 Limnia arenicola Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 33: 138. 1906. 



Glabrous annual 6-15 cm. high, with several slender stems arising from the base. Basal 

 leaves linear to narrowly spatulate, about two-thirds the length of the stems ; stem leaves dis- 

 tinct, opposite, linear to narrowly spatulate, 1-3 cm. long ; inflorescence lax, 3-8 cm. long, pedicels 

 slender, 7-18 mm. long, 3-14-flowered with a minute lanceolate bract subtending each pedicel; 

 sepals 1.8-2 mm. long, broadly ovate, acute at the apex; petals pink or white with pink lines, 

 6-8 mm. long, emarginate ; capsule shorter than the sepals ; seeds 2-3, dark, shining, faintly 

 granulate, ellipsoid, 1-1.3 mm. long. 



Sandy banks and pine woods, Arid Transition Zone; eastern Washington and western Idaho south to Wallowa 

 County, Oregon. Type locality: Washington and Idaho. March-April. 



14. Montia sibirica (L.) Howell. Siberian Montia, Candy Flower. Fig. 1636. 



Claytonia sibirica L. Sp. PI. 204. 1753. 



Claytonia asarifolia Bong. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 2: 137. 1832. 



Claytonia alsinoides Sims, Bot. Mag. 32: 1309. 1810. 



Claytonia bulbifera A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 12: 54. 1876. 



Montia sibirica Howell, Erythea 1: 39. 1893. 



Montia washingtoniana Suksdorf, Deutsch. Bot. Monatss. 16: 220. 1898. 



Limnia bracteosa Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 21: 305. 1932. 



Rather succulent perennial (rarely annual), stems several, 1.5-4.5 dm. high with slender 

 rootstock, the thickened leaf bases on the crown sometimes persisting as bulblet scales. Basal 

 leaves several, 10-25 cm. long, blades 1.5-5.5 cm. long, broadly or narrowly ovate, truncate or 

 attenuate at the base, acute at the apex; stem leaves opposite, sessile (rarely subsessile), 1.8-5 

 cm. long, broadly ovate, acute, subtending the branches of the inflorescence: racemes open, lax, 

 6-30 cm. long, 1-4 on each stem, 10-25-flowered, in vigorous plants the racemes branched with 

 2 (sometimes 1) small stem leaves subtending the branches; pedicels slender, 1-3.5 cm. long, 

 divergent in age, each subtended by a green, linear-lanceolate to obovate bract 4-10 mm. long; 

 sepals 3-6 mm. long, orbicular to ovate, somewhat enlarged in age; petals 7-10 mm. long, pink or 

 white with pink lines, emarginate at the apex ; capsule shorter than or equaling the calyx ; mature 

 seeds 1-3, dark, shining, finely granulate with low tubercles, 2-2.5 mm. long. 



In bo^s and moist woods, Transition and Canadian Zones; eastern Siberia to Alaska, south to Santa Cruz 

 County, California, and east to Idaho and Montana. Type locality: Siberia. March-Sept. 



15. Montia heterophylla (Nutt.) Jepson. Different-leaved Montia. Fig. 1637. 



Claytonia unalaschkensis var. heterophylla Nutt. ex Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 199, as a synonym. 1838. 

 Claytonia alsinoides var. heterophylla Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 199. 1838. 

 Montia sibirica var. heterophylla Robinson in A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. I 1 : 273. 1897. 

 Montia heterophylla Jepson, Fl. Calif. 474. 1914. 



Perennial from a rootstock, propagating by stolons producing tubers, 1 to several stems 12-30 

 cm. high. Basal leaves 9-20 cm. long, the blades 4-9 cm. long, attenuate at the base, broadly linear 

 to narrowly linear-oblanceolate ; stem leaves 2, distinctly petioled, 1 . 5-6 cm. long, narrowly 

 oblanceolate, attenuate at the base, the blade much surpassing the petiole, rarely equaling it; 

 racemes one or more to each stem, 10-15 cm. long; pedicels bracteate, slender, 1-3 cm. long, 

 spreading in age ; sepals round-ovate, sometimes subcordate at base, 3-4 mm. long ; petals white 

 with pink veins, emarginate, 5-7 mm. long ; mature capsule shorter than the sepals ; seeds 1-3, 

 dark, shining. 



In shady woods, Transition Zone; western Washington south to the Siskiyou Mountains, southern Oregon, 

 and in the Sierra Nevada to Fresno County, California. Type locality: "Columbia woods," Oregon. March-May. 



5. SPRAGUEA Torr. Smiths. Contr. 6: 4. 1853. 



Plant annual or perennial from a taproot. Leaves mostly basal, stem leaves reduced. 

 Inflorescence of scorpioid spikes arranged in umbels, heads or panicles. Flowers perfect. 

 Sepals 2, persistent, scarious. Petals 4, withering around the style. Stamens 3. Styles 

 united, long-filiform. Stigmas 2. Capsule membranous, 1-8-seeded. Seeds round-reni- 

 form, shining, not strophiolate. [Name in honor of I. Sprague, American botanical illus- 

 trator.] 



A genus of 2 species, natives of western North America. Type species, Spraguea umbellata Torr. 



Capsule ovate, 2-10-seeded; sepals 4.5-8 mm. long. 1. 5". umbellata. 



Capsule orbicular, 1-2-seeded; sepals 2-2.5 mm. long. 2. .S*. monosperma. 



