Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Montia chamissoi (Ledeb. ex Spreng.) Greene
- Family: Purslane (Portulacaceae)
- Flowering: June-August
- Field Marks: This species is recognized by its opposite, oblong leaves, its white or pink flowers with petals 1/4-1/3 inch long, and its tiny unequal sepals.
- Habitat: Wet meadows, boggy areas, along streams.
- Habit: Perennial herb with creeping or floating stems; sometimes slender stolons bear small bulblets.
- Stems: Creeping or floating, but with ascending branches up to 6 inches long, smooth.
- Leaves: Opposite, simple, oblong, up to 2 inches long, up to 1/2 as wide, smooth, without teeth or lobes.
- Flowers: Borne singly in the axils of the leaves, or 3-8 in racemes, each flower with a slender stalk eventually recurved in fruit, the stalk up to 1 inch long.
- Sepals: 2, free from each other, green, suborbicular, unequal in size, the large one about 1/6 inch long, persistent in fruit.
- Petals: Usually 5, free from each other, pink or white, 1/4-1/3 inch long.
- Stamens: Usually 5, attached to the base of the petals.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3.
- Fruits: Capsules ovoid, up to 1/16 inch long, smooth; seeds 1-3, black, less than 1/16 inch long, covered with very minute spines.
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