136 



THE PINK FAMILY. 



1. Perfoliate Claytonia. Claytonia perfoliata, Don. 

 (Fig. 171.) 



(Bot. Mag. t. 1336.) 



A glabrous, green, somewhat succu- 

 lent annual, with numerous spreading 

 prostrate or ascending stems, from a few 

 inches to nearly a foot long. .Radical 

 leaves on long petioles, small, broadly 

 ovate or almost reniform. Flowering 

 stems with a single leaf below the 

 flowers, nearly orbicular, concave an 1 

 quite perfoliate, the stem passing through 

 the centre, evidently formed by the 

 union of two opposite leaves. Flowers 

 very small, in one, two, or more clusters 

 or short racemes along one common pe- 

 duncle above the leaf. Petals white, 

 notched, scarcely longer than the calyx. 

 A native of north-western America, 

 now so common a weed in some parts 

 of Lancashire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and some other English counties 

 that it can be no longer omitted from our Floras. Fl. spring and 

 summer. 



Fig. 171. 



II. MONTI A. MONTIA. 



Flowers minute, with the 5 petals united into one corolla, split open 

 in front. Stamens 3. Stigmas 3. Capsule opening in 3 valves, and 

 containing 3 seeds. 



The genus consists but of one species. 



1. Water Montia. Montia fontana, Linn. (Fig. 172.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1206. Blinks or Water Chickiveed.) 



A little, glabrous, green, somewhat succulent annual, forming dense 

 tufts, from 1 to 4 or 5 inches in height, the stems becoming longer and 

 weaker in more watery situations. Leaves opposite or nearly so, ob- 

 ovate or spathulate, from 3 to 5 or 6 lines long. Flowers solitary or 

 in little drooping racemes of 2 or 3, in the axils of the upper leaves ; the 

 petals of a pure white, but very little longer than the calyx. Capsules 

 small and globular. 



