144 FLOEA OF TASMANIA. [Portulacea. 
tion of the species.— A perfectly glabrous, slender, much-branched, annual weed, 3-6 inches high. Radical leaves 
§-1 inch long, very narrow, linear-spathulate, rather fleshy ; cauline shorter and smaller ; upper minute. Pedicels 
slender, in the axils of the upper leaves, |-f inch long, patent, or deflexed after flowering. Flowers small, white. 
Sepals i inch long, ovate, acuminate, persistent. Petals agglutinated into a calyptra over the ovary, pale pink. 
Stamens 5, apparently free. Stigmas three, free, linear-clavate. Seeds numerous. 
Gen. II. CLAYTONIA, L. 
Calyx bipartitus. Petala 5, hypogyna. Stamina 5, petalis opposita et iis basi inserta. Ovarium 1- 
loculare ; stylo erecto trifido, ramis intus stigmatiferis ; ovulis basin versus loculi funiculis liberis insertis. 
Capsula 3-valvis. Semina 3 v. plura, funiculis liberis. Albumen farinaceum. Embryo periphericus. — 
Herbse, foliis -emosisve. 
This, like Calandrinia, is almost wholly an American genus, and one species is a very Arctic one. The only 
Australian species known to me is the present, which also grows in New Zealand. — Often succulent, herbaceous, 
annual or perennial plants, with alternate or opposite leaves, and axillary, peduncled flowers or racemes. Calyx 
two-lobed to the base. Corolla of five, membranous, generally white petals, often united at the base. Stamens 
five, united each to the claw of a petal. Ovary one-celled, with an erect style, trifid at the top, the divisions papil- 
lose on the inner surface. Oi wit « numerous, situated near the base of the cavity, amphitropous. Seeds three or 
more, attached to long, free funiculi, with farinaceous albumen, and a curved, cylindrical embryo. (Named in honour 
of John Clayton, an English botanist and traveller in North America.) 
1. Claytonia Australasica (Hook. fil. Ic. PI. t. 293) j caespitosa, caulibus prostratis radicantibus, 
foliis anguste et longe linearibus, petiolis basi membranaceis dilatatis, pedunculis axillaribus elongatis 
1-floris.— Fl. N. Zeal. i. 73. [Gunn, 160.) 
Hab. Common in moist places throughout the Island, ascending to 4000 feet.— (Fl. Oct.-Dec.) (v. v.) 
Distrib. New South Wales, South-eastern Australia, New Zealand. 
Extremely variable in size and habit, according to the moisture, etc., of the locality it inhabits.— A small, 
tufted plant, 1 inch high in drier places ; a very long, straggling herb, a foot long, in water. Stems prostrate, root- 
ing. Leaves ^-5 inches long, very long, linear, strap-shaped; petioles with a dilated, membranous vagina at the 
base. Flowers on axillary, slender peduncles. Sepals orbicular, concave, one-quarter as long as the petals, but 
variable in proportionate size. Petals obovate-oblong or spathulate, very membranous, white, extremely variable in 
>ize.— Dr. Mueller sends a curious succulent variety, from an elevation of 5000 feet on Mount Buller, Victoria. 
Gen. III. MONTIA, L. 
Omnia Claytonia, sed sepalis interdum 3 et seminibus 1-3. 
1. Montia fontana (L. Sp. PL 129).—,%/. Bot. t. 1206; DC. Prodr. iii. 362; Fl. Ant. i. 13, 
ii. 278; Fl. K Zeal. i. 74. M. lamprosperma, Chamisso in Linnaa, vi. 565. t. 7. (Gunn, 2007.) 
Hab. St. Patrick's Eiver, in springs, elev. 1500 feet, abundantly, Gunn.— (Fl. Nov.) {v. v.) 
Distrib. New Zealand, Lord Auckland's and Campbell's Islands, Fuegia, the Falkland Islands, and 
Kerguelen's Land ; temperate Europe, Asia, and North America, to the Arctic Circle. 
A small, tufted, water or marsh plant, found in many quarters of the globe, and only distinguished from Clay- 
tonia by the sepals being sometimes three, and the seeds fewer than three.— Stew* often attaining 6-8 inches in 
water, leaves spathulate or narrow linear-spathulate, succulent, f-1 inch long. Flowers white, small, in solitary, 
urinary, rather thick, curved or straight peduncles.— The apparent rarity of this plant in Tasmania is remarkable, 
for it is usually of very frequent occurrence in the countries it inhabits. (Named in honour of Joseph de Monti, a 
Bolognese botanist.) 
