MONTIA 
3 
Genus 2. Montia 
By G. CLARIDGE DRUCE, M.A. 
Montia [Micheli Nov. Pl. Gen. 17, t. 13, fig. 2 (1729); Haller Stirp. Helv. i, 608 (1742);] L. Sp. PL 87 (1753) 
et Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 38 (1754); Bentham and Hooker Gen. Pl. i, 159 (1862); Pax in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenpam. 
iii, pt i b, 55 et 58 (1889); Cameraria [Dillenius App. Cat. Giss. 114, t. 6 (1719);] Moench Meth. Pl. 520 (1794) 
[non Plumier 1 . c.\ 
Annual, rarely biennial or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, rather succulent. Inflorescence 
few-flowered or solitary. Flowers very small, somewhat zygomorphic, often self-pollinated or even 
(in the submerged forms) cleistogamous. Sepals 2, rarely 3, ovate to suborbicular, persistent, larger 
than the petals. Corolla small, white, more or less gamopetalous but split posteriorly, with 5 petals, 
inserted at the base of the calyx ; petals united below, the 2 outer ones larger than the 3 inner 
ones, the median one the smallest. Stamens inserted at the top of the corolla-tube, 3 and opposite 
the smaller petals, or rarely 5 and antipetalous. Ovary superior, unilocular; ovules 1 — 3, basal. 
Style short. Stigmas 3, linear. Capsule explosive, opening by 3 valves, subglobose, surrounded by the 
persistent perianth. Seeds 1 — 3, suborbicular, compressed, reticulate or tuberculate. Embryo peripheral. 
As distinct from the old Portulaca and Alsine, the present genus was founded by Dillenius (op. at.) in 1719. 
Dillenius had used for it the name Cameraria in 1717, but on this occasion did not furnish any generic description. 
It was named Cameraria in honour of Joachim Camerarius, the great Niirnberg botanist who flourished during the 
latter part of the sixteenth century, and who had previously diagnosed the species in his Hort. Med. 131 (1588) as 
Portulaca exigua sive andrachnion arvense. However, the name Cameraria had already by Plumier (Gen. 18 t. 29, f. 1 (1703)) 
been bestowed on an Apocynaceous genus. Moench (loc. cit.) in 1794 unsuccessfully attempted to revive the name 
Cameraria for the valid one of Montia. 
The name Montia was first used by Micheli (loc. cit.) in 1729, who thus commemorated his countryman Giuseppe 
Monti (1682 — 1760), a professor of botany at Bologna. 
i species (sometimes subdivided into 2 or 3) ; Europe (including the Faeroes and Iceland) ; 
northern Africa; northern, central, and south-western Asia; North America; South America — the 
Andes and the Falkland Islands; Australia and New Zealand. 
I. MONTIA FONTANA. Blinks. Plates 3, 4 
Portulaca exigua sive andrachnion arvense Camerarius Hort. Med. 13 1 (1588); Alsine aquatica surrectior Ray 
Cat. Cantab. App. i, 3 (1663) [=var. chondrosperma\ ; A. flosculis conniventibus Merrett Pinax 5 (1666); Portidaca 
minima alba Morison Prael. Bot. 165 (1669) [=var. chondrospermd\ ; Alsine parva palustris tricoccus portidacae 
aquaticae similis Ray Syn. 149 (1690); cf. Dillenius in ed. 3, 352 (1724) [=var. chondrosperma \ ; Cameraria 
arvensis Dillenius in Acad. Caesar.-Leopold. Carol. Natur. Curios. Ephem. cent. 5 et 6, app. p. 88, t. x, fig. 31 
(1717) inch C. aquatica fig. 32; C. arvensis et minor Dillenius Cat. Giss. 46 (1719) [=var. chondrosperma ] ; M. 
aquatica minor Micheli Nov. Pl. Gen. 18, t. 13, fig. 2 (1729) [=var. chondrosperma\. 
Montia fontana L. Sp. PL 87 (1753)!; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 136 (1864). 
Annual, rarely (in the water-forms) biennial or even perennial. Root fibrous. Stem erect, 
or ascending, or decumbent and creeping at the base, or prostrate, or almost submerged under 
water. Leaves with short dilated petioles, somewhat connate, elliptical, spathulate, entire, pale 
yellowish-green to dark green in colour. Inflorescence 1 — 7 flowered, cymes axillary or axillary and 
terminal. Pedicels bent at first, straightening later. Flowers 2 — 4 mm. long ; April to August. Seeds 
either tubercled and dull or reticulate with 2 — 3 rows of flattened tubercles toward the keel, or without 
prominent tubercles and finely reticulate and shining ; black to pale chestnut-brown in colour. 
Continental botanists differ as to the number of species into which the aggregate M. fontana should be divided. 
Ascherson und Graebner (FI. Nordostd. Flachl. 293 (1898) have three species, grouped, however, under the “ Gesammtart 
M. fontana Pax in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, 1 b, 58 (1889) has two species; and Engler und Gilg (Syll. 
ed. 7, 183 (1912)) have only one. 
Whilst the synonyms cited by Linnaeus prove that he included both var. lamprosperma and var. chondrosperma in 
his Montia fontana , yet it is clear to me that the plant he actually had in mind was the former variety, since this 
is the plant of his herbarium, and indeed the only one that occurs in Scandinavia. 
I adopt Fenzl’s varietal names because they are the earliest that are based on the character of the seed ; and 
earlier varietal names 1 are consequently indeterminable. In my opinion, the name M. fontana L. (loc. cit.) should, if the 
plant is divided into two or more species be restricted to the northern plant (=var. lamprosperma ). In point of priority, 
Necker’s name M. verna antedates Gmelin’s M. minor-, and it is quite clear that Necker’s plant is the one afterwards named 
M. fontana var. chondrosperma by Fenzl (loc. cit.)-, and therefore, if the aggregate M. fontana is subdivided into small species, 
the correct name of the southern plant would be M. verna and not M. minor. 
1 e.g., Persoon Syn. i, iii (1805) has var. erecta and var. repens. 
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