PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 177 



1. TALINUM Adans. 



Low glabrous herbs, mostly with linear leaves (clustered near the base), 

 without stipules, and usually white or pink cymose flowers. Sepals deciduous 

 (tardily in ours). Petals 5, fugacious. Stamens adherent to the base of the 

 petals. Style 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Seeds numerous. 



1. Talinum parviflorum Nutt. T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 197. 1838. Stem short, 

 from thick fleshy branching roots: leaves terete or nearly so, broadened at the 

 base: scape-like peduncles slender, 5-20 cm. high: flowers pink, in loose cymes: 

 sepals ovate: stamens 5: capsule ovoid. T. teretifolium. In dry soil; Minne- 

 sota to Colorado and southward. 



2. CLAYTONIA L. SPRING BEAUTY 



Low glabrous succulent perennial herbs with a pair of opposite stem leaves 

 (alternate in C. megarrhiza) and usually 1 or more radical ones. Flowers 

 white, yellow, or rose-colored, in naked loose terminal simple or paniculate 

 racemes. Sepals 2, persistent. Style 3-cleft. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds not 

 more than 6, compressed, orbicular or reniform. 



Radical leaves and the stems from a tuber-like corm. 



Flowers yellow ... . . . . . . . . . 1. C. aurea. 



Flowers white or pink, with pink or purple veins. 



Radical leaves usually more than 1, always present . . . 2. C. multicaulis. 

 Radical leaves only 1, or wanting. 



Petals retuse or obcordate; sepals obtuse . . . . . 3. C. lanceolata. 



Petals rounded-obtuse; sepals subacute . . . . . 4. C. rosea. 



Radical leaves and stems from a thick caudex . . . . . 5. C. megarrhiza. 



1. Claytonia aurea A. Nels. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 27: 260. 1900. Corm 

 large, deep-set : radical leaf oblong or oblanceolate, net more than half as long 

 as its slender petiole; cauline sessile by a narrowed base, linear-lanceolate, 

 2-4 cm. long: stems 1-5 from each corm, rather stout, 1-2 dm. high: raceme 

 many-flowered, rather long-peduncled : sepals rhomboidal or suboval: petals 

 large, golden-yellow, oval, abruptly narrowed into a short claw. Type lo- 

 cality, Henry's Lake, Idaho; probably in Wyoming and Utah. 



2. Claytonia multicaulis A. Nels. 1. c. Conns large, 15-25 mm. in diameter, 

 near the surface of the ground: radical leaves usually more than one (often 

 several), oblong or lanceolate, as long as the petiole; cauline similar, sessile: 

 raceme short-peduncled, 5-9-flowered ; pedicels subumbellate, slender, the 

 lowest with an obtuse green bract at the base: sepals obtuse, half as long as 

 the elliptic or oval short-clawed petals, turning yellowish in drying: petals 

 white with purplish veins, yellowish at base when dry. Collected first in 

 Yellowstone Park; apparently from Colorado to Montana. 



3. Claytonia lanceolata Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 1: 175. 1814. Corm rather 

 small, 7-15 mm. in diameter: radical leaf, when present, oblong-lanceolate, 

 scarcely half as long as the slender petiole; cauline sessile, oblong-lanceolate 

 to elliptic: raceme few-several-flowered, sessile between the paired leaves, 

 rarely longer than the leaves: sepals elliptic, obtuse: petals retuse or emar- 

 ginate or obcordate. C. caroliniana. From northern Wyoming far north- 

 ward and westward. 



4. Claytonia rosea Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 31: 404. 1904. Much like 

 the preceding: cauline leaves oblong-lanceolate^ or narrower, 2-5 cm. long: 

 raceme peduncled, surpassing the leaves: sepals subacute: petals spatulate 

 to obovate, entire, rounded-obtuse, pale rose-color, with purple veins. C. 

 caroliniana sessilifolia. Common on moist slopes; throughout our range. 



5. Claytonia megarrhiza (Gray) Parry, in Wats. Bibl. Index 118. 1878. 

 Perennial, with a thickened caudex: root fusiform, very large: leaves fleshy; 

 radical ones petioled; cauline lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, -sessile : racemes 

 secund: flowers large, profuse, white with pinkish veins: petals obovate, 

 subemarginate. High alpine, growing in crevices of the rock, its large purple 

 tap-root penetrating to a great depth; mountains of Colorado, Utah, and 

 Wyoming. 



ROCKY MT. BOT. 12 



