Flora of North America species comparison

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Montia chamissoi

Montia bostockii

Chamisso's montia, spring beauty, toad lily, water miner's-lettuce, water montia

Bostock's minerslettuce, Bostock's montia
Habit Plants perennial, rhizomatous and stoloniferous, usually bulbiferous; rhizomes and stolons slender. Plants perennial, rhizomatous or stoloniferous, not bulbiferous, rooting at nodes.
Stems

erect, aerial portion 2–32 cm, subterranean portion 1–15 cm.

erect, 5–15 cm.
Leaves

opposite, petiolate;

blade oblanceolate to rhombic or ovate, short, 2–60 × 1–20 mm.

alternate, secund, petiolate;

blade linear, 2–40 × 0.5–2 mm.
Inflorescences

ebracteate.

1-bracteate;

bract linear to oblanceolate, 10 × 2 mm.
Flowers

2–10, often replaced by bulbils;

sepals 2–4 mm;

petals 5, white or pink, 2–4 mm;

stamens 5, anther pink or lavender.

1–12(–20);

sepals 3.5–4.5 mm;

petals 5, white with yellow blotches at base, or pinkish, 10–15 mm;

stamens 5, anther yellow.
Seeds

1–1.5 mm, tuberculate;

elaiosome present.

0.8–1.5 mm, tuberculate;

elaiosome present.
2n

= 22.

Montia chamissoi

Montia bostockii
Phenology Flowering May–Aug. Flowering early summer.
Habitat Wetlands, riverbanks and streamsides from low to high elevations of coastal valleys and mountains Moist, often north-facing slopes of scree or alpine tundra
Elevation 500-3700 m (1600-12100 ft) 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; MN; MT; NM; NV; NY; OR; PA; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; BC; YT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

A related species, Montia calcicola Standley & Steyermark, occurs in the Guatemalan highlands.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Considered an ancestral species of Montia and Claytonia by some workers, M. bostockii appears related to M. vassilievii (Kuzeneva) McNeill of Asia and M. linearis of North America. The pollen is distinctly tholate with spiniferous saccae. The flowers of both M. bostockii and M. vassilievii closely resemble claytonias but have only three ovules, as opposed to arctic claytonias, which have six.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 487. FNA vol. 4.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Montia Portulacaceae > Montia
Sibling taxa
M. bostockii, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis, M. parvifolia
M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis, M. parvifolia
Synonyms Claytonia chamissoi, Crunocallis chamissoi Claytonia bostockii, Montiastrum bostockii
Name authority (Ledebour ex Sprengel) Greene: Fl. Francisc., 180. (1891) (A. E. Porsild) S. L. Welsh: Great Basin Naturalist 28: 154. (1968)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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