94 PORTULACACE^. CLAYTONU. 



MONTI A. 



the base of the lowest pedicel : sepals ovate, acutish cr obtr.ee, 1-1 K lines 

 long : petals 3-4 lines long, pale rose color with darker veins : roots glo- 

 bose. Eastern Washington and Oregon to the Rocky Mountains, Nevada 

 and California, in mountainous districts. 



C. umbellata Watson Bpt. King 43, t. 6. Scapose stems an inch or 

 two high : radical leaves orbicular to oblong or ovate on long slender pet- 

 ioles (often wanting on flowering specimens) : involucral leaves orbicular 

 to ovate or rhomboidal, on slender petioles : flowers 3-5 in a subsessile um- 

 bel, subtended by a broad scarious bract: petals 3-4 lines long, a little 

 longer than the rounded, obtuse, somewhat scarious sepals: root of vari- 

 ous shape, usually oblong or fusiform, }^-2 inches long. In gravelly 

 ground, Ptein's Mountain, southeastern Oregon to Nevada. 



* * Stems and leaves from the crown of a fleshy root. 



C. Megarrhiza Parry W^atson Bib. Tnd. 118. Leaves numerous, 

 cuneate with rounded apex, attenuate below to a margined petiole 

 with scarious dilated base 1-6 inches long. 2-18 lines wade; scapose stems 

 not exceeding the leaves : involucral leaves lanceolate or linear sessile : 

 raceme secund, subsessile. with comparatively large acutish scarious 

 bract at base; sepals oblong 2-3 lines long, petals obovate subemargin- 

 ate, a third longer than the sepals. High alpine, growing in crevices of 

 rocks, its large purple tap-root penetrating to a great depth. Blue Mount- 

 ains of eastern Oregon to the Rocky Mountains. 



7 MONTIA Micheli Nova Plantarum Gen. 17 t. 13. 



Low glabrous and succulent herbs with delicate pale or white 

 flowers in loose axillary or terminal simple or compound ra- 

 cemes. 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, 3- seeded. 



* Leafy-stemmed annuals : petals unequal. 

 -t- At least the lower leaves opposite. 



M. minor Gmelin Fl. Bad. i, 301, (?), Stems weak and filiform, form- 

 ing dense mats 2-10 inches in, diameter rooting at the lower nodes : leaves 

 spatulate or obovate to narrowly oblanceolate, 3-9 lines long : flowers a 

 line long or less: petals conspicuous a little longer than the calyx: seeds 

 dull black, tuberculate. In wet places and ditches, Washington to north- 

 ern California. 



-- Leaves all alternate. 

 n- Stamens 2 or 3: opposite the 3 smaller petals. 



M. Howellii Watson Proc. Am. Acad. xviii, 191. Stems slender, dif- 

 fusely branched %-% inches long, procumbent and rooting at the nodes : 

 leaves narrowly spatulate 2-4 lines long with a dilated scarious clasping 

 base, rarely opposite, usually opposite to a triangular scarious clasping 

 bract which subtends a few-flowered raceme : pedicels shorter than the 

 leaves, reflexed in fruit: flowers very small: sepals less than a line long: 

 petals 2, rarely 3-5 or w r anting; the 2 larger a little exserted : seeds black, 

 smooth and shining. Willamette valley : flowers in very early spring. 



M. diehotoma Howell 1. c. 36. Claytonia dichotoma Nutt. T. & G. Fl. 

 202. Erect, 1-3 inches high, branching from the base and compact leaves 

 all linear 6-12 lines long: flowers in dense terminal, racemes ; sepals 

 broadly elliptical, about a line long, usually colored i petals but little 

 longer: distinctly united, at bane; seed* thick-lenticular minutely tuber* 



