THE PURSLANE FAMILY 
[ORDER XIII. PORTULACE.E] 
HE species of this family resemble the members of the Pink family in many respects ; the 
flowers differ in having only 2 sepals and 1 style, the leaves in being alternate, and the 
stems in not being swollen at the joints. 
The family is fairly widely spread, and is best represented in North and South America, where 
many beautiful and showy species may be found. In the British Isles it is but poorly repre- 
sented, the only true native, Water Blinks (Montia fontana), being a very unnoticeable little plant. 
The Perfoliate Claytonia (Claytonia perfoliata), a native of North America, is found in such 
profusion in some parts of these isles that it appears quite naturalised, and the Common Purslane 
(Portulaca oleracea), cultivated as a pot-herb, is also firmly established at Richmond. 
*CLAYTONIA. (CLAYTONIA, LINN.) — Flowers white or rose-colour, in terminal clusters 
(cymes). Sepals 2, united at the base ; petals 5 ; stamens 5 ; carpels 3, style 3-cleft at the top ; 
fruit a 1 -celled capsule, opening by 3 teeth. Herbs with numerous stalked leaves from the root 
(radical leaves). 
*Pepfoliate Claytonia. (Claytonia perfoliata, Donn.)— The only species naturalised 
in Britain (as just described). The flowers white and very small, in a terminal cluster, at the base 
of which are a pair of opposite, stalkless (sessile) leaves, with the lobes united, so that they appear 
to be one leaf, through the centre of which the stalk passes (perfoliate), the flower stalks being 
otherwise leafless; from 6 — 12 inches high. The root leaves are broad, almost kidney-shaped. 
The whole plant is rather fleshy. \Plate 26. 
Naturalised in many parts of England, in Surrey, Sussex, Essex, and Dorset. April — May. Annual. 
BLINKS. (MONTIA, LINN.)— A genus consisting of the one species — 
Water Blinks. (Montia fontana, Linn.) — Flowers minute, white, solitary, or 2, or 3, in 
little drooping clusters in the axils of the leaves, forming a distinct cluster (raceme). Sepals 2, 
broad, persistent ; petals 5, entirely united, and split down one side, white ; stamens 3 ; carpels 3, 
the style 3-cleft ; fruit a round capsule, hidden in the calyx. Stems from 1-5 inches high, fleshy, 
becoming longer when the stems are hidden in water ; the leaves small, oval or inversely egg- 
shaped (obovate), smooth. The whole plant rather fleshy, and forming dense pale-green masses. 
[Plate 26, 
Common in wet places ; though local in several countries. May — August. Annual. 
