Flora of North America species comparison

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Montia parvifolia

Montia chamissoi

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

Chamisso's montia, spring beauty, toad lily, water miner's-lettuce, water montia
Habit Plants perennial, often bul-biferous, with branched caudices, mat forming. Plants perennial, rhizomatous and stoloniferous, usually bulbiferous; rhizomes and stolons slender.
Stems

simple erect or ascending, 10–30 cm.

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

basal and alternate, petiolate;

blade oblanceolate, 10–70 × 4–12 mm.

opposite, petiolate;

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

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

ebracteate.
Flowers

1–12, showy;

sepals 2–3.5 mm;

petals 5, pink or white, 6–15 mm;

stamens 5, anther pink.

2–10, often replaced by bulbils;

sepals 2–4 mm;

petals 5, white or pink, 2–4 mm;

stamens 5, anther pink or lavender.
Seeds

0.8–1.5 mm;

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

1–1.5 mm, tuberculate;

elaiosome present.
2n

= 22, 44.

= 22.

Montia parvifolia

Montia chamissoi
Phenology Flowering late spring-mid summer. Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Moist or wet soils and rocky cliffs of coastal and inland mountains Wetlands, riverbanks and streamsides from low to high elevations of coastal valleys and mountains
Elevation 0-2800 m (0-9200 ft) 500-3700 m (1600-12100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; MN; MT; NM; NV; NY; OR; PA; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

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

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4, p. 487.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Montia Portulacaceae > Montia
Sibling taxa
M. bostockii, M. chamissoi, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis
M. bostockii, M. dichotoma, M. diffusa, M. fontana, M. howellii, M. linearis, M. parvifolia
Synonyms Claytonia parvifolia, Naiocrene parvifolia Claytonia chamissoi, Crunocallis chamissoi
Name authority (Mociño ex de Candolle) Greene: Fl. Francisc., 181. (1891) (Ledebour ex Sprengel) Greene: Fl. Francisc., 180. (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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