Flora of North America species comparison

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Montia fontana

Montia linearis

annual water miner's-lettuce, blinks, spring water chickweed, water blinks, water chickweed, water montia

line-leaf Indian lettuce, line-leaf montia, narrow leaf water chickweed, narrow-leaf montia, narrow-leafed montia, narrowleaf miner's-lettuce
Habit Plants annual or biennial, never bulbiferous. Plants annual, not rhizomatous, stoloniferous, or bulbiferous.
Stems

prostrate or decumbent, 1–30 cm, freely rooting at nodes, forming mats.

erect, branched or simple, 2–30 cm.
Leaves

opposite, sessile;

blade oblanceolate to rhombic, 2–20 × 0.5–10 mm.

alternate, erect, not distinctly petiolate, with clasping leaf sheaths;

blade linear, 2–60 × 1–4 mm.
Inflorescences

leafy.

terminal, 1-bracteate;

bract linear to oblanceolate, to 20 × 2 mm.
Flowers

1–8, slightly bilateral;

sepals 1–1.5 mm;

petals 5, connate proximally, white, unequal, 1–2 mm;

stamens 3, anther pink or yellow.

2–8;

sepals 3–7 mm;

petals 5, white, 4–6 mm;

stamens 3–5, anther yellow.
Seeds

0.7–1.2 mm, tuberculate;

elaiosome present.

1.2–2.6 mm, tuberculate;

elaiosome absent.
2n

= 20, 40.

= 28.

Montia fontana

Montia linearis
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Pools, springs, meadows, other wet or moist places Dry to moist habitats, coastal and inland valleys to montane, coniferous forests
Elevation 0-3700 m (0-12100 ft) 0-2500 m (0-8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MA; ME; MT; NH; NV; NY; OR; UT; VT; WA; WY; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; YT; SPM; Central America; South America; Africa; Greenland; Asia; Europe; Arctic regions
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MS; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Montia fontana displays a multitude of forms varying in stature, leaf shape, and seed size. Segregate species, varieties, and subspecies have been named. Based on my study of worldwide collections of the species, much variation in M. fontana is attributable to phenotypic differentiation of ramets produced by local environmental conditions and unrelated to genetic variation. Until macromolecular or other studies shed light on the variation in M. fontana, it seems pointless to recognize infraspecific taxa or segregate species.

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

Montia linearis is a highly uniform species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 487. FNA vol. 4, p. 488.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Montia Portulacaceae > Montia
Sibling taxa
M. bostockii, M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. howellii, M. linearis, M. parvifolia
M. bostockii, M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. parvifolia
Synonyms Claytonia hallii, M. clara, M. funstonii, M. hallii, M. minor Claytonia linearis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 87. (1753) (Douglas ex Hooker) Greene: Fl. Francisc., 181. (1891)
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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