PURSLANE FAMILY. Portulacaceae. 
a 
later ones oval, round and kidney-shaped, and they vary 
also in tint, in dry places being sometimes a dull yellowish- 
pink. The stem-leaves are quite odd, for a single pair 
have united around the stem and become a circular or 
somewhat two-lobed disk, one or two inches broad, the 
stalk piercing right through its center. This leaf forms a 
pretty, shallow saucer, with a small, loose cluster of tiny 
flowers, on slender flower-stalks, springing from the middle. 
This is common everywhere in orchards or vineyards, and 
in shady places in the foothills and canyons, and has long 
been cultivated in England for salad. It is also called 
Indian Lettuce and Squaw Cabbage. M. perfolidta is 
similar. 
f This charming little flower resembles 
Spring Beauty 
Méntia porviyoliad the Spring Beauty of the East, Claytonia 
White and pink Virginica, and blooms in late spring, 
Spring among the ferns and wet grasses near the 
vidoe a Yosemite waterfalls and in similar places. 
The white flowers, about three-quarters of an inch across, 
are often tinged with pink and the five stamens are violet. 
The tender stems, about eight inches tall, are weak and 
almost trailing and the pale-green leaves are smooth, the 
lower ones slightly thick and succulent, with little bulblets 
in the axils, which drop off in drying; the capsule mostly 
has only one seed. 
There are several kinds of Claytonia, resembling Montia. 
A pretty little plant, three or four inches 
See ee aeer high, with a juicy, reddish stem and 
Claytonia ce ee c “yee 
ena Ree thickish, bluish-green, juicy leaves, the 
Pink and white root-leaf narrow, the two stem-leaves 
Spring broader. The flowers, over half an inch 
Northwest, Cals across, are white, tinged and delicately 
Nev., and Utah . ate : : 
veined with pink, with a little yellow at 
the base of the petals; the pistil and stamens pink; the two 
sepals yellowish-green. This grows on moist mountain 
slopes, up to an altitude of nine thousand feet, some- 
times at the edge of the snow, is pretty and delicate and 
also resembles the eastern Spring Beauty. 
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