PORTULACACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



4. Claytonia perfoliata Donn. Span- 

 ish Lettuce. (Fig. 1432.) 



Clavtonia perfoliata Donn; Willd. Sp. PI. i: 

 fiS6. 1798. 



Annual, roots fibrous, stems several, erect 

 or ascending, simple, 3 / -i2 / 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 i' 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, i // -2 // in diameter, 2-5-seeded. 



Established near Painesville, Ohio. Native 

 from British Columbia t<> Mexico. April-May 



3. MONTIA L. Sp. PI. 87. 1753. 



Small annual glabrous herbs, with opposite fleshy leaves and minute nodding solitary or 

 loosely racenied 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-ovulcd; 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 \ species, widely distributed in the colder parts of both hemispheres. In ad- 

 dition to the following, another occurs in ( ircgon. 



i. Montia fontana L. Water or Blinking Chick- 

 weed. Blinks. \Vuter-blinks. (Fig. 1433.) 



Mtnititi /tnitunn L. Sp. PI. ^7. 175.}. 



Densely tufted, very green, weak, diffuse or ascending, i'- 

 6' long, freely branching. Leaves opposite, spatulate or ob- 

 ovate, mainly obtuse, 3 // -6' / long, i" 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 \" in diameter. 



In springs and wet places, St. Anne des Monts, Quebec; Maine, 

 Nova Scutia. New Brunswick, I<abrador, Newfoundland, and 

 - 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. PI. 445. 1753. 



Diffuse or ascending, glabrous or pubescent fleshy herbs, with terminal flowers. Sepals 

 2, united at the base and partly adnatc to the ovary. Petals 4-6 (mainly 5), inserted on the 

 calyx, fugacious. Stamens 7-00 , 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. i. 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, i'-2' broad. 4. P. grandiflora. 



