Flora of North America species comparison

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Montia parvifolia

Montia

little-leaf miner's lettuce, showy rock montia, small-leaf montia, small-leafed montia, streambank springbeauty

minerslettuce, montia, toad lily, water chickweed
Habit Plants perennial, often bul-biferous, with branched caudices, mat forming. Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, sometimes rhizomatous and/or stoloniferous, or with branched caudices (M. parvifolia), sometimes bulbiferous, succulent, glabrous.
Stems

simple erect or ascending, 10–30 cm.

prostrate to decumbent or erect, usually branched, often rooting at nodes.
Leaves

basal and alternate, petiolate;

blade oblanceolate, 10–70 × 4–12 mm.

cauline and sometimes basal;

basal leaves in rosettes;

cauline leaves 3 or more, alternate, opposite, or secund, distinct, not articulate at base, somewhat to markedly clasping, attachment points linear, petiolate or sessile;

blade linear, oblong, lanceolate or oblanceolate to rhombic, ovate, or suborbiculate.
Inflorescences

leafy, from apices of fertile caudex branches (determinate) or from leaf axils of shortened fertile caudex (indeterminate), sometimes bulbiliferous in leaf axils.

axillary or terminal, racemose, somewhat to markedly secund (at least terminally), ebracteate or 1-bracteate at base of each flower.
Flowers

1–12, showy;

sepals 2–3.5 mm;

petals 5, pink or white, 6–15 mm;

stamens 5, anther pink.

radially symmetric (slightly irregular in M. fontana), not showy (except in M. parvifolia and M. bostockii), occasionally replaced by bulbils in M. chamissoi;

sepals persistent, unequal;

petals 5, sometimes absent, usually distinct (connate proximally in M. fontana);

stamens 3–5 (occasionally 2 in M. howellii);

ovary globose or linear-oblong, ovules 3;

style 1;

stigmas 3.
Capsules

3-valved, longitudinally dehiscent from apex, valves not deciduous, margins involute.
Seeds

0.8–1.5 mm;

eliaosome rounded, minute, shorter than 0.5 mm, shiny, appearing smooth.

1–3, black, rounded, tuberculate (appearing smooth in M. parvifolia);

elaiosome absent or, less than 1 mm.
x

= 7, 8, 10, 11.
2n

= 22, 44.

Montia parvifolia

Montia
Phenology Flowering late spring-mid summer.
Habitat Moist or wet soils and rocky cliffs of coastal and inland mountains
Elevation 0-2800 m (0-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Worldwide
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Montia parvifolia is a variable diploid and tetraploid species. Plants with larger flowers, leaves, and seeds have been treated as var. flagellaris (Bongard) C. L. Hitchcock or as the separate species M. sweetseri Henderson. Because the complex has not been studied using modern methods, and the variation observed in herbarium specimens has no correlated geographical base, I adopt the position of K. L. Chambers (1993) and do not recognize the two above-mentioned taxa at this time. I equate the species situation here to that of M. fontana and choose not to recognize infraspecific taxa.

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

Species 12 (8 in the flora).

The classification of Montia is in transition. It is widely recognized that the genus as traditionally treated is a rather disparate assemblage of species, albeit closely related. Several segregate genera have been described, but as R. C. Carolin (1993) has observed, “while some are almost certainly recognizable at the generic level, the others probably less certainly.” With the current legitimate uncertainty, it is appropriate to treat Montia here in the broad, traditional sense. To do otherwise is to give the impression that we know more about the relationships of the species than is actually the case.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaves opposite, never alternate or borne on flowering stems
→ 2
1. Leaves alternate or secund, or borne on flowering stems
→ 3
2. Plants annual or biennial, never bulbiferous; stems prostrate or decumbent; stamens 3
M. fontana
2. Plants perennial, usually bulbiferous; stems erect; stamens 5
M. chamissoi
3. Petals 6-15 mm, always present; plants rhizomatous or stoloniferous, often bulbiferous
→ 4
3. Petals 0.7-6 mm, sometimes absent; plants not rhizomatous, stoloniferous, or bulbiferous
→ 5
4. Plants not bulbiferous; leaves not in basal rosette; inflorescences 1-bracteate; Alaska, Yukon
M. bostockii
4. Plants often bulbiferous; leaves in basal rosettes; inflorescences leafy; Pacific coast, cordillera of w North America
M. parvifolia
5. Leaf blades 10-40 mm wide; clasping leaf sheaths absent; stamens 5
M. diffusa
5. Leaf blades 0.5-4 mm wide; clasping leaf sheaths present; stamens (2-)3-5
→ 6
6. Petals often absent; inflorescences axillary
M. howellii
6. Petals present; inflorescences terminal
→ 7
7. Flowers 2-8; seeds 1.2-2.6 mm; stems 2-30 cm
M. linearis
7. Flowers 4-12; seeds 0.8-1.2 mm; stems 1-10 cm
M. dichotoma
Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4, p. 485. Author: John M. Miller.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Montia Portulacaceae
Sibling taxa
M. bostockii, M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis
Subordinate taxa
M. bostockii, M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis, M. parvifolia
Synonyms Claytonia parvifolia, Naiocrene parvifolia Claytoniella, Crunocallis, Limnalsine, Maxia, Mona, Montiastrum, Naiocrene, Neopaxia, Paxia
Name authority (Mociño ex de Candolle) Greene: Fl. Francisc., 181. (1891) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 87. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 38. (1754)
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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