178 PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 



3. MONTIA Micheli 



Low glabrous and succulent herbs with* delicate pale or white flowers in 

 loose axillary or terminal simple or compound racemes. Sepals 2, rarely 3, 

 persistent. Petals usually 5, rarely 3 or wanting, more or less united at base, 

 usually unequal, 3 of them a little smaller than the other 2. Stamens 3-5, 

 inserted on the base of the corolla, opposite its lobes. Ovary 3-ovuled. Cap- 

 sule 3-valved, 1-3-seeded. Claytonia in part. 



Perennial by stolons, also rooting at the joints 1. M. Chamissonis. 



Annuals. 



Leaves all linear . . 2. M. linearis. 



Cauline leaves connate, forming a disk-like involucre . . . 3. M. Viae. 



1. Montia Chamissonis (Eschs.) Greene, Fl. Francis 180. 1891. Stems 

 weak, decumbent, 1-3 dm. long, stoloniferous at base and rooting at the 

 nodes, often bearing bulb lets at the ends of short branchlets or in the axils 

 of the lower leaves: leaves oblong, or ob lanceolate, 1-2 cm. long, somewhat 

 fleshy.' calyx small: petals white, obovate-oblong, entire, 3-4 times as long as 

 the sepals: seeds tuberculate-roughened. In cold springy or boggy places; 

 frequent in our range and west to the Pacific. 



2. Montia linearis (Dougl.) Greene, 1. c. Stems branching, erect or diffuse, 

 5-12 cm. high: all the leaves linear, 2-3 cm. long: racemes several or many: 

 petals white, unequal, scarcely longer than the rather large obtuse sepals: 

 stamens 3: seeds large, orbicular, compressed, smooth and shining. Possibly 

 extending into our range at the northwest. 



3. Montia Viae A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 42: 48, 1906. Annual, with fibroin 

 roots*; stems and petioles weak, suberect, 10-15 cm. high: leaves delicately 

 thin, pale green; the radical several, slender-petioled, the short blades from 

 linear to oval, acute; the single pair of cauline connate and forming a circular 

 disk 10-20 mm. broad, involucre-like below the inflorescence: raceme pe- 

 duncled, with a pair of green bracts at the base of the lower pedicels: flowers 

 very small, several: sepals broadly oval, even in fruit less than 2 mm. long: 

 petals 5, spatulate, barely equaling the sepals, very delicate, apparently 

 often wholly wanting: stamens 5, very short: ovule solitary; the seed small, 

 oval, slightly compressed and subcarinate, minutely but distinctly papillose- 

 roughened and with a waxy-looking conspicuous strophiole. On shady 

 muddy banks; northern Wyoming to Utah. 



4. CALYPTRIDIUM Nutt. 



Glabrous and rather succulent herbs, with alternate leaves, and small 

 ephemeral flowers in scorpioid solitary or clustered scorpioid spikes. Sepals 2, 

 broadly ovate or cordate-orbicular, scarious, usually persistent. Sepals 2-4. 

 Stamens 1-3. Style bifid. Capsule membranaceous, 2-valved, 6-12-seeded. 



1. Calyptridium roseum Wats. Bot. King's Exp. 44. 1871. Diffuse and 

 nearly prostrate, branches 5-12 cm. long: leaves oblong-spatulate, obtuse: 

 sepals unequal, nearly orbicular, scarious margined: petals 2, minute, broadly 

 obovate, with narrowed base: capsule oblong-ovate, not exceeding the calyx. 

 Western Wyoming and westward. 



5. SPRAGUEA Torr. 



Glabrous biennials, with mostly radical fleshy leaves and ephemeral flowers 

 in dense scorpioid spikes umbellate-clustered on scape-like peduncles. Sepals 

 unequal, orbicular-cordate. Petals 4. Stamens 3. Style 2-cleft. Capsule 

 2-valved. 



1. Spraguea multiceps Howell, Erythea 1 : 39. 1893. Depressed branching 

 perennial: stems 3-12 cm. long, very leafy below: leaves 7-12 mm. long, or 



