160 PORTULACACEAE. 



Ore linn Is and vineyards, often very abundant in wet years; also in fields 

 and on hilltops. Behaving like an immigrant. Mar.-Apr. Flowers opening 

 of afternoons. Called "Kisses" in Solano Co. 



2. C. breweri Wats. Stems lax, trailing or sometimes ascending, nearly 

 1 to quite 2 ft. long; leaves spatulate or oblong-spatulate ; flowers sparse; 

 pedicels longer than in no. 1, often deflexed in fruit; capsule narrower and 

 longer (5 lines long), at length nearly twice as long as the calyx. 



Mt. Tamalpais; Southern California. June. 



4. MONTIA L. Indian Lettuce. 

 Moderately succulent low herbs, very glabrous and often glaucous. Stems 

 clustered. Leaves alternate, opposite or mainly radical. Flowers white or 

 pinkish, usually opening the second or third day. Sepals 2, persistent. Petals 

 5, equal or somewhat unequal, distinct or more or less connate at base. Sta- 

 mens 5 or 3. Style-branches 3. Capsule 3-valved from the apex. Seeds 1 to 

 3. (Jos. Monti, Italian botanist.) 



A. Petals distinct or nearly so, commonly notched or retuse at apex. 



/. Leaves radical or opposite; petals equal. 



Leaves all radical, except a sessile and often united opposite cauline pair under the 

 infloresence; petals equal. 



Cauline pair of leaves distinct; perennial 1. M. sibirica. 



Cauline pair connate-perfoliate into a roundish or angular disk; petals white, little sur- 

 passing the calyx; rather coarse annual 2. M. perfoliata. 



Cauline pair partially joined on one side, rarely on both; petals pink, about 3 times 



the length of the calyx; slender annual 3. M. gypsophiloides. 



Cauline pair broadly to narrowly lanceolate, distinct or connate on one side; petals 



white, 1 to 2 lines long; dwarfish annual 4. M. spathulata. 



Leaves opposite along the stem, distinct; perennial by bulblets 5. M. chamissonis. 



2. Leaves alternate; petals often somewhat unequal. 

 Stamens 5. 



Perennial by stolons or bulblets; stems simple and peduncle-like 6. M. parvi folia. 



Annual ; stems diffuse and dichotomous 7. M. diffusa. 



Stamens 3; annual 8. M. linearis. 



B. Petals united at base into a short tube, not notched at apex. 

 Stems bearing opposite leaves; petals unequal 9. M. font ana. 



1. M. sibirica (L.) Howell. Erect, 9 to 18 in. high; radical leaves long- 

 pet ioled, blades ovate, acuminate or barely acute, 1 to 2 in. long; cauline pair 

 ovate or obovate to almost orbicular, distinct, sessile or short-petioled ; ra- 

 ceme very lax, the flowers on long (2% in. or less) pedicels; sepals ovate, 

 obtusish; petals pink, with 5 longitudinal rose-purple lines, emarginate, 3 to 6 

 lines long, narrowed at base into a distinct claw. — (Claytonia sibirica L.) 



Swampy places along the coast. Marin Co. to Mendocino Co. and far north 

 to Alaska. Feb. -June. 



2. M. perfoliata (Donn.) Howell. Miner's Lettuce. Usually 4 to 10 

 (sometimes 16) in. high; radical leaves long-petioled, the earliest narrowly 

 linear, the later ones ovale, rhoinboidnl or deltoid; cauline pair completely 

 united into a round and entire or angulately 2-lobed disk, y 2 to 4 in. broad; 



(lowers in pairs, threes Or fascicles, in ;i short -peduncled or sessile more or 



less interrupted raceme; petals white, little surpassing the calyx. — (Clay- 

 tonia perfoliata Donn.) 



Everywhere common In orchards or vineyards and in the shade of oak and 

 Other trees in the foothills and canons. Also called Indian Lettuce and Squaw 

 Cabbage. Peb.-June. Var. ntjbigena Jepson. Compact plant with glances- 

 cent herbage, and numerous stems; leaves linear or a few spatulate at apex; 



