Claytonia.] PORTULACEA). TL 
branches, or opening by a transverse lid. Seeds 1 to many; 
embryo curved round a farinaceous albumen. 
A small order, having its headquarters in America ; found more sparingly in 
South Africa and Australia; decidedly rare in Asia, north Africa, and Europe. 
Genera 16; species about 125. Some of the American genera are shrubby; and 
the widely distributed Portwlaca (naturalised in New Zealand) differs from the 
rest of the order in having perigynous petals and stamens, and a half-inferior 
ovary. Of the New Zealand genera, Hectorella is endemic, Claytonia is mainly 
American, and Montia occurs in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. 
Stems slender. Stamens 5, opposite the petals. Capsule 
3-many-seeded, seeds shining : 
: i¢ .. 1. Craytonta. 
Stems slender. Stamens usually 3, opposite the petals. 
Capsule 1-3-seeded, seeds dull and opaque... .. 2. Monta. 
Alpine herb with densely tufted stems. Stamens 5, alter- 
nate with the petals me we 543 .. 3. HECTORELLA. 
1. CLAYTONIA, Linn. 
Annual or perennial low-growing glabrous and succulent herbs. 
Radical leaves petiolate, cauline opposite or alternate. Flowers 
solitary or in terminal or axillary racemes or cymes. Sepals 2, 
persistent. Petals 5, hypogynous. Stamens 5, adhering to the 
petals at the base. Ovary free; ovules few; style 3-cleft. Capsule 
globose or ovoid, membranous, 3-valved. Seeds reniform or orbi- 
cular, flattened. 
Species about 20, all from North America or north-eastern Asia with the 
exception of the following one, which is confined to Australia and New Zealand. 
1. C. australasica, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 293. — A 
perfectly glabrous tender and succulent usually matted plant, with 
slender creeping stems 1-6in. long. Leaves very variable in size, 
414 in. long, alternate or in distant pairs, narrow-linear or linear- 
spathulate, obtuse, dilated into broad membranous sheaths at the 
base. Flowers large, +-4in. diam., white or rose, terminal or leaf- 
opposed, solitary or in few-flowered lax racemes; pedicels long, 
slender. Sepals small, broadly orbicular. Petals much longer, 
broad-obovate. Capsule globose, mucronate, usually slightly ex- 
ceeding the sepals. Seeds generally 3, black, smooth and shining. 
—Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 73; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 26; Benth. Fl. Austral. 
1.177; Kark, Students’ Fl. 65. 
Nort Istanp: Ruahine Range and Ruapehu, H. Hill! Petrie! E. W. 
Andrews; Mount Egmont, Buchanan, T. F.C. SourH IsnanpD AND STEWART 
Istanpd: Common in mountain districts throughout. Ascends to over 6000 ft. 
on Mount Egmont, and descends to sea-level in Otago and Stewart Island. 
A variable plant. When growing in dry or exposed places it is often very 
small and densely tufted; but in watery situations the stems lengthen out con- 
siderably and the leaves become longer. Mr. Buchanan (Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. 
210) has described two varieties characterized by the peduncles in one being 
‘2-flowered, and in the other racemose ; but I find the number of flowers to be 
very inconstant. 
