4 PORTULACACEAE. [Vou II. 
4. Claytonia perfoliata Donn. Span- 
ish Lettuce. (Fig. 1432.) 
Claytonia perfoliata Donn; Willd. Sp. Pl. 1: 
1186. 1798. 
Annual, roots fibrous, stems several, erect 
or ascending, simple, 3/-12’ high, bearing a 
pair of connate-perfoliate leaves near the 
summit, completely or partially united into 
an orbicular concave disk, 2’ broad or less. 
Basal leaves rhomboid-ovate, long-petioled, 
the blade 1/ long or more, obtuse or acute 
at apex, narrowed into the petiole; petioles 
shorter than the stems; raceme usually pe- 
duncled, loosely or compactly several-flow- 
ered, sometimes compound; bracts broad, 
deciduous; flowers white or pink, 3//-5/’’ 
broad; petals and stamens 5; capsule glo- 
bose, 1//-2’’ in diameter, 2-5-seeded. 
Established near Painesville, Ohio. Native 
from British Columbia to Mexico. April-May. 
3. MONTIA L. Sp. Pl. 87. 1753. 
Small annual glabrous herbs, with opposite fleshy leaves and minute nodding solitary or 
loosely racemed white flowers. Sepals 2 (rarely 3), broadly ovate, persistent. Petals 5, hy- 
pogynous, more or less united. Stamens 3 (very rarely 5), inserted on the corolla. Ovary 
3-ovuled; style short, 3-parted. Capsule 3-valved, 3-seeded. Seeds nearly orbicular, com- 
pressed, minutely tuberculate; embryo peripheral. [In honor of Guiseppe Monti, Italian 
botanist and author of the eighteenth century. ] 
A genus of about 4 species, widely distributed in the colder parts of both hemispheres. In ad- 
dition to the following, another occurs in Oregon. 
1. Montia fontana L. Water or Blinking Chick- 
weed. Blinks. Water-blinks. (Fig. 1433.) 
Montia fontana J,. Sp. P1.87. 1753. 
Densely tufted, very green, weak, diffuse or ascending, 1/— 
6’ long, freely branching. Leaves opposite, spatulate or ob- 
oyate, mainly obtuse, 3’/-6’’ long, 1’/ broad or less; flowers 
nodding, solitary and terminal or in a small loose leafy-bracted 
raceme; sepals obtuse, slightly shorter than the ovate-oblong 
petals; capsule globose, nearly 1’ in diameter. 
In springs and wet places, St. Anne des Monts, Quebec; Maine, 
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Labrador, Newfoundland, and 
across arctic America, extending south in the mountains to Cali- 
fornia. Also in the Andes of South America, in Australasia and 
in northern Europe and Asia. Summer. 
4. PORTULACA L.. Sp. Pl. 445. 1753. 
Diffuse or ascending, glabrous or pubescent fleshy herbs, with terminal flowers. Sepals 
2, united at the base and partly adnate to the ovary. Petals 4-6 (mainly 5), inserted on the 
calyx, fugacious. Stamens 7-0, also on the calyx. Ovary many-ovuled; style deeply 3-9- 
cleft or parted. Capsule membranous, dehiscent by a lid, many-seeded. [Latin, in allusion 
to the purging qualities of some species. ] 
A genus of about 20 species, all but 2 or 3 natives of America. In addition to the following, 
some 7 others occur in the southern United States. 
Glabrous throughout; flowers small, yellow. 
Leaves mainly rounded at the apex; seeds minutely rugose. 1. P. oleracea. 
_ Leaves mainly retuse; seeds prominently tuberculate. 2. P. retusa. 
Pilose-pubescent, especially in the axils. 
Flowers red, 4''-6'' broad. 3. P. pilosa. 
Flowers variously colored, 1'-2' broad. 4. P. grandiflora. 
